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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24938251">Sundrop and Snapdragon Universe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelMad/pseuds/MelMad'>MelMad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Split Star AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Twins, F/F, F/M, M/M, Split Star AU, and his gem half is named snapdragon, relationships will be revealed throughout the story, steven's human half is named sundrop, this will hopefully be updating every Saturday, we're taking this one episode at a time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:20:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>44,705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24938251</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelMad/pseuds/MelMad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if instead of Steven Universe, there were instead a set of twins.  One human, one gem.  How could this change affect the world as we know it?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steven Universe &amp; Pink Steven Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Split Star AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804942</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>84</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Episode 1: The Power Within Us</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>At the first sign of Snapdragon's shield, the brothers go on a journey to figure out just how a gem can summon their weapon.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sunni sat upside down on the couch looking on his phone.  It was way past time for him to go to bed, but it was also way past the time the Gems said they’d be back, and he always stayed up till they got home.  So, he tried to occupy himself until they got back.  He smiled at the TubeTube videos of cute puppies and kitties that he's been watching for the past couple of hours.  Staring at the screen wasn't doing anything good for his eyes, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.  It was extremely boring being home by himself and it was too late to be going out on an of his late-night walks.</p><p>Sunni frowned when he turned to look at the warp pad, still, no one coming, and it was almost midnight.</p><p>He flipped himself upright and laid down on the couch.</p><p>They’d be here any minute.</p><p>It did affect Sunni that he’s been saying that for the past two hours.  He wanted to know how their mission went.  Since he still couldn’t go on Crystal Gem missions yet, he’d always stay home wait.  Though, he could feel it.  One day soon, he'd be able to go out with them on missions too.</p><p>Sunni yawned, stretching his limbs before standing up to grab another snack.  Something little wouldn't hurt.  He tucked his stuffed cat, KitKat, under his arm.  The boy blinked down at his apparel with his one visible eye.  He wore his typical pajamas.  A long-sleeved light-yellow shirt with a bee in the middle and a pair of black and yellow striped pants.  His curly, dark brown hair hung to his face, covering over his right eye.  After giving his eye a quick rub, he walked over to where the fridge was.</p><p>He grabbed a pudding cup and then a spoon from the cupboard before going back to sit on the couch.  He found himself having to blink a few times as he took a spoonful.  It wasn't helping that he laid down, one of the pillows under his head.  His thoughts got slower.  Mainly they were about sugar and possible missions he'd get to go one with the Gems.  Sunni found himself smiling, cuddling Kitkat a little more.</p><p>Maybe the Gems would let him go on their next mission. </p>
<hr/><p>Snapdragon’s head turned towards the sleeping form on the couch when the Crystal Gems returned.  He quickly made his way over to his brother, who seemed to be completely out of it. The brother pulled the food Sundrop had been eating away from him and lifting him up into his arms.  Sundrop didn’t weigh much to him.  Perks of being a gem.</p><p>Currently, he has only been able to unlock super strength from all things he should be able to do from his gem.  It was enough though, as the Gems let him on missions with them now.  He mainly had to stay on the sidelines, though.  Occasionally, he might be able to through a boulder or something, but since he was still so much younger he had to get familiar with his powers, and going out on missions helped him.</p><p>He made his way up the stairs before setting his brother in his bed and placing the covers over top of him.  He could hear the Gems downstairs talking, but he didn't give them any mind.  Focusing on his freckles that if you looked closely, almost looked like tiny stars on his cheeks and nose.</p><p>“Sundrop knows to get to bed by ten,” Pearl frowned when she glanced at the two brothers.  "He shouldn't be straining himself too much."</p><p>Amethyst pushed past her, “Let the kid live a little.”</p><p>“Shh,” Garnet glanced at the two before looking towards the brothers.  “You’ll wake up Sunni.”</p><p>Snapdragon brushed some hair off Sundrop’s forehead.  His brother turned on his side and snuggled into his stuffed cat.  He watched his brother sleep most nights.  He had no use for it, so he just watched.  His brother looked so peaceful and sweet like this.  It was different compared to his normal silly and extroverted self.</p><p>He heard the other Gems go off to their rooms. </p><p>Sundrop was going to sleep in tomorrow.  He usually did when staying up for missions.  It was kind of his brother to do so, but it was also unhealthy.  His brother really wasn't the healthiest person he knew.  He really needed to monitor himself better, but he was just so naive about his conditions that he simply did whatever he wanted.</p><p>Every time he gets the chance, Sunni asks to come on missions, but the Gems didn’t think he was ready.  So many things could happen to his very human brother.  It was clear that Snapdragon was the one to inherit their mother’s powers, as he was the one who had the gem and he’s already gain inhuman strength.  So, there weren't that many ways for him to be able to protect himself if a gem monster tried to attack him.  And the Gems wouldn't be able to watch over him and take on a Monster.</p><p>His mind continued to wander as he watched his brother breathe in and out.</p>
<hr/><p>“THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!?” Sunni held onto the Cookie Cat freezer in his arms.  Sadie let him take it with him since the Big Donut had no purpose for the machine anymore, however, the boy was still in mourning.  Cookie Cats were still a major part of his life and if they stopped making them, then what?  How could he just let go of their ice creamy goodness?</p><p>The Gems stood around the small human.</p><p>“What’s wrong with him?” he heard Amethyst ask.</p><p>Snappy settled next to him giving a sigh, “He is upset.  His favorite ice cream treats have been discontinued.”</p><p>This caused the boy to hug the freezer hard, “And for Lion Licker!  They don’t even look like real lions!”</p><p>He remembered Lars telling him that at the Big Donut.  Lion Lickers were all melted when they came in and whenever they froze again, they'd become all saggy.  He hated them with all his heart!  They went and took away his favorite treat.  Now here he was, even with the freezer he felt the pain of their absence.</p><p>“You mean those sandwich things in the shape of a feline?” Pearl frowned. </p><p>Sunni nodded, continuing to mop.</p><p>Amethyst walked over and nudged him with her foot.  The boy gave a mumbled noise, burying his face into the freezer surface.  He didn't have the energy to do anything else.  </p><p>“Dang I haven’t seen him like this since the season finale of that one show he watches,” she said, vaguely remembering it.</p><p>“Crying Breakfast Friends,” Snappy reminded. </p><p>Sunni heard Garnet hum.</p><p>“I have an idea,” she replied, and suddenly the warp went off. </p><p>When Sunni looked up, no one was there.  They probably had more important business to handle than him moping.  He clutched the freezer a little tighter.  There wasn't any amount of baby animal videos to cheer him up.  He might try that later, but right now all Sunni wanted to was cry into a metal surface.  He'll cry until there weren't any more tears to be cried.</p><p>He didn't know how long he was like this.  Hugging a metal freezer with a cartoon character on it, sobbing into one of the cold sides.  He didn't know if he had the willpower to move from his spot.  He just wanted to stay here until his body would seep into the wooden floor</p><p>There was a noise somewhere a little ways from him.</p><p>“Sunni,” a voice said.  “Sunni.”</p><p>He blinked open his eyes to see Pearl, who had an armful of Cookie Cats.</p><p>The boy gasped, seeing that all of them had an arrangement of the ice cream treats in their hands.  Sunni gasped even louder.</p><p>“I thought they stopped making them!” he stood up quickly, getting a slight head rush.</p><p>Pearl smiled, “Yes, well we out and we—”</p><p>“Stole a bunch!” Amethyst finished.</p><p>Pearl growled, “I went back and paid for them.”</p><p>Sunni was quick to lift the freezer up and set it on the counter, working to plug it into the wall.</p><p>“It was my idea,” Garnet stated.</p><p>Amethyst frowned, “It was everyone’s idea.”</p><p>“Not really,” she replied.</p><p>Once he finished setting the freezer up, the boy managed to stuff all of them into the freezer.  All but one, which he held in his little hand.</p><p>“All that matters is that Sunni is happy,” Pearl stopped the two from fighting.</p><p>So much excitement filled Sunni.  He was basically buzzing around at this point.  So, when the Cookie Cat song from the commercials entered his mind, Sunni couldn't stop himself.</p><p>
  <em>“Oohhhhhh!  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>He’s a frozen treat with an all-new taste!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>‘cause he came to this planet from outer space!</em>
</p><p><em>A r</em>efugee from <em>an interstellar war!</em></p><p>
  <em>But know he’s at your local grocery store!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cookie Cat! He’s a pet for your tummy!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cookie Cat! He’s super-duper yummy!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cookie Cat! He left his family behind!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Cookie Caaaat!  Now available at Gurgens off Route 109!”</em>
</p><p>He finished the Cookie Cat’s commercial song, and all the Gems applauded.</p><p>“Thanks so, so much!” Sunni smiled.  “I’m going to save these forever…right after I eat this one!”</p><p>He tore open the wrapper and bit into the ear.  He always ate the ears first.  It was something that had developed over time.  When he was much younger, he'd try to crame the whole cookie in his mouth.  That did nothing more than give him a brain freeze.  Now, he understood the importance of savoring his food, so he'd started with the smallest part. </p><p>Bouncing in place, he almost didn't hear the rumble.</p><p>“What—” before anyone could say anything a green bug-like creature broke that door down and entered into the beach house.</p><p>The Gems summoned their weapons, quickly going into battle with the creatures as more entered their house.</p><p>Sunni stared in awe of them.  In his whole life, he's never seen anything like them.  He wanted to bend down and touch one of them.  He was about to, too.  However, an arm around his waist lifted him off the ground and on top of the counter.</p><p>“Hey!” he frowned as Snapdragon grabbed a broom and smacked one into the wall.</p><p>“You’re safer up there,” he stated.</p><p>“Safe from what?” Sunni crossed his arms.</p><p>To answer that, one of the monsters spit up some acid which melted the floor.</p><p>Sunni frowned, sitting down on top of the counter, sitting criss-cross.  He looked over at all the little creatures that crawled around the house.</p><p>“So, what are they?” Sunni asked out of curiosity.  It wasn't every day he was in the middle of a gem fight!</p><p>“They’re Centipeetles,” Pearl replied.  “I think they’re trying to get into the temple.”</p><p>Sunni turned his head, seeing that a good bit of them were trying to charge into the temple, however, Pearl was stopping them.  Garnet was to his right.  Amethyst was by the couch.  Snappy was by the door.</p><p>“Um, guys?” the purple gem called out.  “These things don’t have any gems!”</p><p>When she poofed one with her whip nothing fell to the ground.  That was an unusual sign.  Every time Sunni saw a monster get poofed a gem fell, then one of the Gems would bubble it and send them to the temple.</p><p>“There must be a mother nearby,” Garnet replied as he punched away two of the centipeetles.</p><p>“We have to find her before anyone gets hurt,” Pearl replied.</p><p>An idea formed in Sunni’s head, “Can I come with you guys?  Please?!”</p><p>Even if they didn't say anything, Sunni seemed to already know the answer from their silence.  Sundrop was human.  And a pretty sick one at that.  It wouldn't be safe for him to go out on these long and dangerous missions when he could get hurt.  Even if he tried to tell him, nothing that serious has happened to time since he was nine, they all told him that it would be better to wait until he was ready.</p><p>“Sunni,” Pearl replied while snapping the neck of another centipeetle, “Why don’t you leave protecting humanity to us?”</p><p>The boy frowned to himself, “Aw…”</p><p>He didn't get the chance to feel that sorry for himself because one of the centipeetles had climbed up onto the counter.  Acid bubbled from their mouth, melting one of the towels that had been settled on the edge of the counter.  Sunni gave a slight scream before kicking it away.</p><p>It was now anger, screeching before launching itself right at him. </p>
<hr/><p>Snapdragon had smacked another creature away with the broom when he heard Sundrop scream.  He turned his head over to where his brother was.  Still on the counter, but with one of the creatures making his way towards him.  The others were all preoccupied with the others. </p><p>It was like a wave of overprotective instinct washed over him.</p><p>Time seemed to slow down to Snapdragon as he placed himself between the centipeetle and his twin brother.  A warm, fuzzy feeling came from his navel with a dull grow coming from under his redshirt.  A familiar instinct took over when he placed his arm up. </p><p>At first, he thought he would take the blow.  Better his human form, than his brother's human body.  However, the attack never came.</p><p>Because in between himself and the green creature was a pink shield.  Nothing was fancy about it, just a blank pink shield.  However, it was his shield.  This was his weapon, like how Pearl had her spear, Amethyst her whip, and Garnet he Gauntlets.  Snapdragon had his own shield.</p><p>The acid seemed to have no effect on it.  The green substance just rolled off.</p><p>Everyone stared in awe at the sight.</p><p>“Snapdragon,” Pearl whispered just loud enough for him to hear.  “It’s a shield.”</p><p>Garnet made quick work of that centipeetle, which appeared to be the last one.</p><p>Suddenly, just as fast as it happened, the shield dematerialized.</p><p>Everyone was silent for a second.</p><p>Snapdragon didn't know what to think.  He's heard about this shield.  Heard many stories about it, but to be the one to bear it.  This felt like something in a fantasy.  He wanted to see it again, to know that it wasn't just some sort of joke.  He needed to know that he was able to summon his mother's shield.</p><p>Before another attempt could be made, there was a weight on his back and arms wrapped around his neck.</p><p>“You did it, Snappy!” Sundrop smiled.  “You summoned your weapon!”</p><p>A tiny smile formed a Snapdragon’s face, shifting himself so he could support his brother’s weight.</p><p>“How did you manage to do that?” Amethyst asked him.</p><p>He shrugged, “I don’t know…it happened really fast…”</p><p>Sundrop gasped, “Maybe yours will only appear if you really, really need it!”</p><p>Pearl frowned, “I don’t know…most Gems develop a technique in order to summon theirs whenever they’d like.”</p><p>Snapdragon tilted his head, “Techniques?”</p><p>He’s never heard this before.  If Snapdragon was being honest, he didn’t think it works like that.  When they were much younger, Sunni had told him you can simply pull it out of your gem.  That’s what appeared to them anyway.  Of course, when the two tried, it didn’t work.  For a while, Snapdragon thought maybe he didn’t have any powers.  Maybe his gem was just useless, but after he had gained a remarkable amount of strength, he began to regain that confidence that he once had.</p><p>Sundrop settled his chin on his brother’s shoulder, “How do you guys do it?”</p><p>Pearl clapped her hands together, “Oh, I’ll go first.”</p><p>She took them to a hill.  On top of it was a large tree filled with light pink flowers.  Petals fell from it.  Gracefully dancing in the sky.  Sundrop smiled reaching a hand up, letting one of them fall on his hand.</p><p>“Pay attention to these petals, Snapdragon. The petals' dance seems improvised, but it is being calculated in real-time based on the physical properties of this planet. With hard work and dedication, you can master the magical properties of your gem and perform your own dance!” her gem on her forehead began to glow before she pulled her spear from it.  She held out her hand and a singular petal fell into her hand. “Like so.”</p><p>Snapdragon placed his hand on his gem, while the other reached out to grab a handful of the petals.  He thought for a second.  Just focus…</p><p>He turned to his brother, who had a bunch of flowers in his hair.  A smile formed back on Snapdragon's face.</p><p>Next, they meet Amethyst behind the Big Donut.  She had a donut in her hand, watching Snapdragon through some of the petals he had collected in the air.  He focused on the petals to the best of his ability.  Trying to see if he can harness the power of his gem again.</p><p>“Did Pearl tell you the petal thing?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Snapdragon replied, beginning to take some of the petals out of Sundrop’s hair.</p><p>“He needs to practice really hard, so he can dance like a tree,” Sundrop replied.</p><p>“Listen Snaps,” Amethyst pointed at him with her donut.  “All that practice stuff is no fun.”  She took a bit of her donut.  “Whenever I want to summon my weapon, it just happens,” her gem glowed, and her whip formed.  When she fully pulled it out, the end went over and cut the dumpster in half.  “See, didn’t try at all.”</p><p>Snapdragon rubbed his head.  So, it should just happen.  He shouldn’t be overthinking it.  But Pearl had basically told him the opposite.  What was he supposed to do?</p><p>Before he could ask anything, Lars had run out of the Big Donut, “Ah!  Not Again!”</p><p>Finally, the two ended up on top of the hill next to the lighthouse just above their house with Garnet.  Snapdragon hoped that she could clear this all up because everything was getting extremely complicated.</p><p>“So, I’m supposed to work really hard, but not try at all at the same time?” Snapdragon asked.</p><p>“Yes,” she replied.</p><p>The pink gem blinked, not expecting that.  He was about to ask her how she summoned her gauntlets, but Garnet started to speak again.</p><p>“Or,” both the gems on her hands began to glow.  “you could link your mind with the energy of all existing matter. Channeling the collective power of the universe through your gem, which results in—” her gauntlets formed.  “At least that’s my way of doin’ it.”</p><p>Snapdragon’s eyes widened much larger.  So many questions filled his mind, but it seemed that the Gems couldn't help him with this.  They had only seemed to add to the questions.</p><p>Now, he sat on the beach.  His brother brought his Cookie Cat freezer out with him and was finishing the one that he started before the centipeetle attack.  </p><p>Sundrop fell on his back.</p><p>“So, I guess that was a bust,” he replied.  “But at least we know you have mom’s shield.  Just like Captain La Merica.”</p><p>Snapdragon dug his hand deeper into the sand, “What if I can never do the things mom did?  What if when she passed it down something happened and now I'm stuck with a useless gem?”</p><p>A flick on his arm stopped him from spiraling, “Hey!  No quitter talk on me, Ginger-Snaps!  You do have mom’s powers!  And I will be with you every step of the way until your able to harness this power!”</p><p>He smiled at his brother’s determination.</p><p>Even if his gem didn’t listen to him, at least Snapdragon had Sundrop.  He brought a hand down and patted his brother’s shoulder.</p><p>“Another wouldn’t hurt, right?” Sundrop asked, looking up at his brother then at the Cookie Cats.</p><p>“You had dinner five minutes ago,” Snapdragon answered, but his brother already opened it.  “You’re going to make yourself sick.”</p><p>Sundrop blew a raspberry, “I perfectly capable of holding my food.  Thank you.”</p><p>Snapdragon rolled his eyes before laying down too.  It was nice to have these moments.  Moments he could have with Sundrop.  Because Sundrop wasn't just his brother.  He was his best friend.</p><p>“That one looks like a butt,” he pointed up at one cloud, which was just two circles.</p><p>Sundrop busted out laughing, “It does!  And that one looks like a winged whale on a unicycle in the middle of the summer.”</p><p>Snapdragon tilted his head as he looked at the blob, “I don’t think you’re playing this right.”</p><p>Sundrop leaned over and punched his brother’s shoulder, “There are no rules to cloud watching!”</p><p>Before the other brother could reply something shook the ground to the core.  A shadow loomed over them, a large shadow.</p><p>When they turned, the two both stood up.  Their eyes widening, hands interlocking.</p><p>In front of them was a giant Centipeetle.  They stood on the beach in front of their house.  The noises coming from them were horrible and hurt to hear.</p><p>Snapdragon was quick to get in front of his brother.</p><p>“It’s the mother,” he heard Garnet yell to the others.</p><p>The three went down, but before they could summon any of their weapons, the Centipeele spit a large amount of acid forcing the Crystal Gems to hide behind a broken part of the statue.</p><p>“Um…this would be a really good time to summon your shield,” Sundrop said peeking over his brother’s shoulder.</p><p>He tried.  He really did try.  What made this time different?  People he cared about were going to be hurt.  Didn’t his gem see this as a dangerous situation?  Should his shield be forming!?</p>
<hr/><p>Sunni looked around, trying to see if there was anything he could do to help.  His brother was too in his own head, trying to form his shield.  The Gems were pinned…he had to think of something quick.</p><p>What did he have on him?</p><p>A cell phone…paperclip…extra ribbon…the freezer!</p><p>“Snappy!  When I tell you, throw the freezer at the Centipeetle!” before an answer Sunni started to run towards the monster.  </p><p>He had to get his attention somehow, get him away from the Gems.  He looked back at Snappy, the Cookie Cat freezer was held above his head, waiting.</p><p>An idea formed on how he can gain the Centipeetle's attention, “Cookie Cat!  He’s a pet for your tummy!”</p><p>The monster turned towards him, tilting their head in confusion at the shout.  The gem within their mouth glared down on him.   Than the Centipeetle charged at him, ready to attack the tiny human.</p><p>“Cookie Cat!  He’s super-duper yummy!” he ran towards the ocean, stopping right in front of it.</p><p>This had to work.  He stayed in place, even as the Centipeetle continued to get closer and closer.</p><p>“SUNDROP!” he heard multiple voices yell for him, but he had to stay here if his plan was going to work.</p><p>“Cookie Cat!  He left his family behind!  Cookie Caaaat!” he continued and when she was just a few meters away Sunni threw his body to the left making sure he was out of the way of both the Centipeetle and the water. “NOW!”</p><p>Snapdragon threw the freezer hard enough that the cord wrapped around their body.  When they began to struggle acid began to form from the Centipeetle's mouth, both she and the freezer fell into the water, electrocuting the Centipeetle.</p><p>In the corner of his eye, he saw Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst summon their weapons and poof the creature.  Garnet was the one that bubbled the gem.  However, Sunni couldn’t pay that much attention because his stomach made an unusual flip.  Too full…too much running…</p><p>“Now available…nowhere,” he fell to the ground.  “Okay, tum-tum work with me here.”</p><p>A hand came down and grabbed his shoulder, “Nice job, Sun-man.”</p><p>“Thanks…” he placed a hand on his stomach.</p><p>Pearl smiled, “Yes, that was very resourceful.”</p><p>His brother knelt next to him, “Sorry about your Cookie Cats.”</p><p>For the first time in his life, Sunni didn’t want to hear that…</p><p>Garnet gave him a thumbs up.</p><p>Sunni managed a smile, “Thanks guys, I just—"</p><p>Before anything else could happen, he vomited on the sand.</p><p>“I told you so!”</p>
<hr/><p>Sundrop was curled up next to his brother, his face still extremely pale from being sick.  Snapdragon combed his hand through his brother's hair, while with the other hand he read a book.  It was quiet since the Gems had retired to their rooms.</p><p>"Do you want to watch the stars?" Sundrop asked, pressing his cheek into Snapdragon's shoulder.</p><p>He was about to protest.  Sundrop needed to stay in the house in order to regain his strength.  Running around like he did had weakened his body, so Snapdragon didn't want his brother to go out.</p><p>"Fresh air will help me feel better," Sunni added with a weak smile.  "And it will only be for a couple of minutes."</p><p>He relented, bending down so that Sundrop could jump onto his back.  His blue detached sleeves came into his sight as his brother's hands clasped each other.  Snapdragon's hands went under his brother's knees, making sure to hold him up.  His chin rested on his shoulder.</p><p>"Ready?" he asked.</p><p>Sundrop gave a nod and Snapdragon went outside. Now to the roof.</p><p>Making sure Sunni was secured in place, he jumped up onto the railing and then jumped up on the roof.  His brother laughed and giggled.</p><p>If Snapdragon wasn't any missions, the two would go on the roof and stare at the sky.  Watching clouds, stars, sunrises, or sunsets.  They did it from the window if it was rain or snow.</p><p>The little human, snuggled into his brother's side as they watched the sky.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This idea's been in my head for a while now.  What-if it was Steven's "components" throughout the series instead of simply Steven.  I have a few ideas for this AU (I'm calling it Split Star).  I really love the concept of human Steven and gem Steven and would love to see more of them.  Oh, and they're both named after two different types of flowers.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Episode 2: A Cannon Episode</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>With the Red Eye getting closer and closer to the city, the twins try to see if their dad knows where it is.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was late as Sunni sat on the beach. He hummed a familiar melody that he couldn’t place.  A couple of days had passed since the Centipeetle accident, and Snappy was still trying to summon his shield.  He was trying to find his own way to summon it though.  His arm would be out, he’d take a deep breath and he would focus his energy on the Rose Quartz gem on his stomach. As Sunni would wake up, he’d find his brother on the couch willing the weapon to come. He hasn’t had any luck.</p><p>At the moment, Snappy was in the city with Amethyst.  Even though he wasn’t much of a social person, Snapdragon would go down into the city a lot. Most of the time it was either to go to the car wash where their dad worked, or off to get food.</p><p>With a small exhale Sunni looked up the darkening sky.  It was amazing getting to watch the sunset over the ocean. So many colors mixing into one scene.</p><p>However, something caught the child’s eye.</p><p>He blinked at the sight of what might appear to be another moon…did the Earth have two moons and Sunni just never notice?  And from where he was, it almost looked like it was getting bigger. Slowly, but it did seem to be coming closer and closer to them</p><p>“Oh, no this isn’t good,” he heard Pearl.  “Look at the size of it.  I didn’t know these things were so big!”</p><p>Both she and Garnet stood a few yards away looking through a telescope.</p><p>Sunni ran over to them, “Um…what is that thing?”</p><p>Pearl flinch not realizing that the human brother had been there, “Oh Sundrop.  I thought you were with Amethyst and Snapdragon.”</p><p>He shook his head, “I was just out here thinking…so that isn’t another moon?”</p><p>Pearl frowned at that statement, but continued, “No, it’s a—”</p><p>“Garnet!  Pearl!” Amethyst ran up, Snappy tucked under her arm.</p><p>“We saw,” Pearl replied.  “Some of us are trying to protect humanity.  Where were you two?”</p><p>“Eating fry bits,” she replied after setting the pink gem down.</p><p>Pearl groaned, “Anyway, it’s a Red Eye…”</p><p>Sunni felt panic overcome him, “It’s going to infect us all!”</p><p>Snappy had sent a hand on his shoulder, in hopes to comfort him.</p><p>“That’s pink eye,” Garnet correct, while Amethyst laughed.</p><p>Sunni frowned, “Oh, can I see?”</p><p>He peered into the telescope and was in shock to see a giant red eyeball.  Sunni frowned, not that creative with the name, but it did look pretty cool to him.  Could one keep one as a pet?  No, it was much too big, and Pearl seemed really worried about it.</p><p>“It’s going to crash into Beach City and crush us.  Along with a bunch of oblivious, innocent people.  We have to stop it!” Pearl declared.</p><p>The thing was too far away from them to actually fight. And it seemed they wouldn’t be able to just sit and wait for the rock to get closer to them</p><p>“What are we going to do?” he asked.</p><p>Garnet adjusted her visor before answering him, “The only thing powerful enough to destroy it is a Laser Cannon that belong to Rose Quartz.”</p><p>That name caused both Sunni and Snappy to freeze.  Their mother wasn’t much of an open topic around the temple.  Sure, they heard plenty about her from their dad, but when at the house it almost seemed like she was a forbidden topic. Of course, there was her picture on the wall. One of the few things that allowed them to see what she actually looked like, but Rose Quartz was a mystery to them.</p><p>“If Rose was here, this would be so easy,” Amethyst complained.</p><p>Sunni saw his brother flinch at that.  He was the one with her gem after all.  Sometimes, he’d get really upset over Rose not being here anymore.  He felt that he had to carry that burden alone. Sunni would try to remind him that it was her choice…but it never seemed to cheer him up.</p><p>Pearl sighed, “I know, but she’s not, and the cannon is missing.  We’ll have to find another solution.”</p><p>Sunni grabbed his brother’s hand as he tried to think of a way he could help.</p><p>“Well…if it belonged to mom…dad would probably know where it is!” Sunni replied.</p><p>It made perfect sense. She could have just given this weapon to the twin's dad, just in case they ever need it.</p><p>Nobody replied to that.</p><p>“Greg is…nice, Sunni,” Pearl hesitated.  “But I doubt she’d trust someone like your dad with such a powerful weapon.”</p><p>“Your guys’ dad is kinda a mess,” Amethyst shrugged.</p><p>“Amethyst!” Pearl squawked, but the damage had already been done.</p><p>“No way!  I’m sure he’s keeping it somewhere safe!” Sunni crossed his arms, feeling very defensive.  “We’ll go ask him.”</p><p>It would probably be best to get Snappy out of here before any more indirect damage could be dealt with. It was a huge secret between the two. Snappy knew that the Gems loved him, but sometimes he felt that he was overcast in his shadow that their mom had created. Of course, Sunni tried to cheer him up. Tell him Rose wouldn’t want her son to suddenly be in control of every power that the gem could harness. Pearl’s mentioned to them before that some gems don’t realize they can have certain powers until much later in their lives.</p><p>“We can handle this, Sundrop, Snapdragon,” Garnet stated before she turned to Amethyst.  “Ready?”</p><p>She nodded, then was lifted by Garnet and thrown at the Red Eye.  The four just stared as she stuck to the Red Eye before falling into the ocean.</p><p>“We’re gonna go!” Sunni yelled out, grabbing Snapdragon’s hand.</p><p>“Okay, good luck,” he heard Pearl say as they went off.</p><hr/><p>It seemed to useless as Sundrop kicked and punched at the Van, trying to get their dad to come out of it.  They had already looked inside the Car Wash but couldn't find him and they knew that it was much too late for him to be out.  So, Snapdragon concluded that he was in the Van, but the doors were locked so neither brother could get inside.</p><p>"Dad!" Sundrop punched against the side.   "DAAAD!"</p><p>Snapdragon stared at the roof of the Van, "Can you give me a lift?"</p><p>His brother nodded, cupping his hands in order for the other to be able to step up.  It was much easier to pull himself up with the extra bit of height.  Quickly, he pulled himself up began to jump up and down on the van.</p><p><strong>"DAD!  WE HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD!"</strong> Snapdragon screamed as loud as he could.</p><p>In the corner of his eye, he saw his brother grab his ears.  He winced as the Van's alarm began to blare, but the movement from within the van meant that his plan worked.</p><p>Greg Universe threw open the door, baring a waffle iron, "AH! Who's there?!  I have a waffle iron!"</p><p>Sundrop frowned. He squinted close at their dad before speaking up, much too loudly, "DAD IT'S ONLY US!"</p><p>Snapdragon jumped down, easily landed on his feet, catching his father's attention.</p><p>Greg threw down the waffle iron and turned off the alarm with his keys.</p><p>Snapdragon loved his father.  He really did, however, he didn't wonder if the Gems were right about their dad not having the Laser Light Cannon. If the gems weren't able to actually destroy the Red Eye, and this weapon was, why would their mother leave it to a human she cared deeply about.  However, they were starting from scratch and maybe their dad did have some idea of where it could be.  With the Red Eye getting closer and closer, they didn't really have a lot of time to search the whole world.</p><p>"What are you two doing?  I nearly waffled your faces," he asked them.  "Isn't it a little too early for you two to be walking around the city?"</p><p>Snapdragon frowned, a look of confusion took over his features, "Dad, it's nearly 8 P.M."</p><p>A look of embarrassment took over their father's features, as he rubbed the back of his head, but before he could say anything Sundrop started yelling again.</p><p>"WE NEED MOM'S LIGHT CANNON!" it wasn't anywhere close to how loud Snapdragon had been a few moments ago, but it was still pretty loud to human standards.</p><p>Maybe he had been a little too loud earlier and his brother was pretty close to him.  He hoped the deafness was only temporary.  Sundrop didn't need another ailment on his body.</p><p>Greg had frowned at the volume, "Let's try and take it down buddy..."</p><p>However, he was only meet with a look of confusion.  Before he could scream again, Snapdragon placed a hand on his brother's mouth and placed a finger to his lips.  Of course, Sundrop gave a cheerful nod and a quick thumbs up.</p><p>With that settled, Greg continued the conversation, "Now what's this about a cannon?"</p><p>"We need mom's Laser Light Cannon in order to destroy the Red Eye before it can destroy the city," Snapdragon pointed up at the sphere in the sky, getting closer and closer to them.</p><p>When the three Universe’s looked towards it, Garnet had thrown Amethyst again only for her to fall off and go back into the ocean.</p><p>Worry filled Greg's expression, "Wait?  Is this a magical thing?  The Gems told me not to get involved.  It...it could be dangerous or interfere with what's left of my hair."</p><p>That didn't help Snapdragon's growing doubt about Greg knowing the location of the cannon.  Maybe they should try the temple and get into their mom's room.  The others can't get into it, so that could be a good place to put some important things.  Snapdragon did have her Rose Quartz gem on his navel, so maybe if he really tried, he'd be able to open the door.</p><p>"I think my hearing's coming back!" Sundrop grinned, but his voice wasn't as loud.  "You have to know where the cannon is, dad.  Like maybe cave dungeon, or a cloud fortress, or in a clam at the bottom of the sea!"</p><p>Oh, Snapdragon hoped it wasn't in any of those places.  They'd never be able to get to it without the help of the Crystal Gems.  And they seemed too busy on the beach to pay attention to them.</p><p>Their dad smiled at Sundrop's enthusiasm, "Well, I don't know about all that, but I do have an idea where it might be."</p><p>He took them to a U-Stor a little farther into the city, parking in front of one of the units.  Sundrop's eyes lit up as they jumped out of the van.</p><p>"A magical storage unit!" he hopped up and down grabbing onto Snapdragon's arm.</p><p>Greg chuckled, "Not exactly, but one might say there's magic inside."</p><p>Snapdragon raised an eyebrow in confusion, not fully understanding what he just said.  By the look on his brother's face too, it showed that he didn't understand it either.</p><p>"It's just a shed I keep stuff that doesn't fit in the van," he explained.  "If it's anywhere, it'd be in there."</p><p>When it opened, Snapdragon was surprised at the number of things that were packed in.  Random boxes were stacked all the way to the top.  Searching wasn't going to be an easy task.  There was only one entrance to the place, just a small hole towards the bottom that one would have to crawl through.  If they were going to have luck finding the Light Cannon, someone would have to crawl through.  And Snapdragon knew one person, who would be extremely excited to crawl into an unknown space.</p><p>"Welp, if I--" he didn't even get to finish that thought before Snapdragon lifted his brother up and set him back down next to Greg.  "Hey!  I can do it!"</p><p>Greg set a hand on Sundrop's shoulder before he could try and go off again, "Maybe it's best that Snaps goes in.  We wouldn't want you having an attack in there."</p><p>Of course, Sundrop pouted, crossing his arms across his chest mumbling about him not having one since he was nine.</p><p>However, it was a lot more logical for Snapdragon to go in.  He was a gem, he was much more durable than Sundrop.</p><p>The young human was like most children and didn’t know his limits.  He thought he could take on the world.  However, his brother was fragile.  And in the world that they live in, Snapdragon knew if one thing went overlooked, Sundrop could be severely hurt or worse.</p><p>With that taken care of, the gem grabbed a nearby extension cord and tied it around his waist.  He gave the other end to his dad before heading into the entrance.  He hoped the natural glow of his body would be enough to find their mother's weapon.  Now, as prepared as he could be he started crawling through the unit.</p><p>It was pretty dark within the space.  The soft glow of his body illuminated everything within a couple of feet around him with a light pink glow.</p><p>"What's it like in there?" he heard Sundrop call out to him.</p><p>Snapdragon leaned back on his haunches staring around the place, "Kind of like a dad museum."</p><p>He saw different things within it, some that he sort of remember from his childhood.  Like some of the stuffed toys that he had, but outgrew.  There were also a lot of knickknacks and random things that their father had collected throughout his life.</p><p>There was a large object ahead of him.  It was tall and from where Snapdragon was could resemble a cannon-like weapon.  However, when he was close enough to it, the object turned out to be nothing more than a set of golf clubs.  That made the gem raise an eyebrow.</p><p>"You play golf?" he called out behind him.</p><p>"Eh," Greg called back.  "I'd like to see myself as a man that would play golf, eventually."</p><p>As Snapdragon got deeper and deeper, he found another object that resembled the weapon, but it turned out to be a drum.</p><p>He found another thing that looked like a cannon and when he got close enough it did look like some sort of weapon.  Snapdragon picked it up, inspecting the object.  As he turned it over though, his hand hit the trigger releasing a shirt that said to buy T-shirt cannons.</p><p>Before any disappointment could settle in, the shirt had hit a box causing it to tumble to the ground landing in front of Snapdragon.</p><p>Tilting his head, he looked through the contents, finding it filled with his dad's old CDs.</p><p>He lifted on into his hand, "Hey dad, I found a box of your old CDs."</p><p>"Huh.  Oh man, I couldn't even give those things away," he heard Greg chuckle.  "You know, before I ran the car wash, when I was a one-man band, I traveled the whole country."</p><p>Snapdragon smiled, tucking one of the CDs into his breast pocket and heading back on his mission.</p><p>Greg continued, "When I came to play a concert at Beach City, no one came except--"</p><p>"An alligator!" Sundrop yelled out, excitedly.</p><p>A small chuckle escaped Snapdragon's mouth.</p><p>"No, it was your mother," Greg corrected him.</p><p>"We know," the two brothers said at the same time.</p><p>“And we were always together after that.  Until she gave up her physical form to bring you two into the world.  I don’t know what a magical lady like her ever saw in plain old dope like me,” Greg reminisced.</p><p>Something pulled at Snapdragon's chest.  Their mom was always a strange topic to talk about.  He was happy when he heard his dad talk so lovingly of her.  But he felt weird having her gem, a constant reminder.  That he was more or less the reason that she was gone.  He pushed those thoughts deep down within himself though.  He didn't want anyone to know that's how he felt.  So, when people were around, he would copy Sundrop's confused, but excited mood when it came to talking about their mom. Only the brother knew, and that was because Sundrop could tell if he was lying.</p><p>A crack interrupted his thoughts and stopped him from crawling.</p><p>Looking under his knee, he found a photograph of his dad and mom, the glass now cracked over Rose Quartz. Guilt filled him.</p><p>"Dad, I broke a photo," he called out.</p><p>"It's okay, buddy," Greg called back.  "If every porkchop were perfect, we would have hotdogs."</p><p>The guilt melted away a little bit.  A small smile formed on his face again.</p><p>A faint glow caught his attention.  It was very similar to Snapdragon's glow, but it couldn't be his because his natural light didn't reach that far.  As he crawled closer, Snapdragon found himself staring in awe at Rose Quartz's Laser Light Cannon. </p><hr/><p>There was silence on Snapdragon's side for longer than Sunni felt comfortable with.  He pressed the tips of his nail against his thumb, bending them back slightly.  A nervous tick that's he hasn’t been able to shake.  It wasn't the best on his nails and he's tried to stop it, but he always finds himself doing it.</p><p>"Oh geez," Greg looked up at the sky where the Red Eye was.  "That thing's giving me the willies." </p><p>He blinked up towards the rock. He had confidence in his dad and Snappy. He just knew that his dad had to have it and that Snappy would be able to find it.</p><p>"I found it," Snapdragon called out from deep within the unit.</p><p>Their dad turned back towards the unit, "Really?"</p><p>Sunni smiled, bringing his hands together, "Yeah!  We can save the town!"</p><p>Now all they had to do was get it out and down to the beach.  A tiny frown formed on Sundrop's face as he thought how they would do this.  Could they somehow magic its way out?</p><p>"Get the Van!" he called to them.</p><p>That would work too.</p><p>Sunni sat in the passenger seat as Greg went and tied the cord to the bumper.  There was a struggle at first.  The Van pulled against the cord, but it seemed there was too much packed within the unit. The cannon was stuck through all the things packed away. After a few moments of tug-a-war, the Van pulled out the Laser Light Cannon, along with the rest of the contents.</p><p>Snappy held the cannon easily in his arms, "We need to get this to the beach."</p><p>"How?  It's too big for the van!" Greg stated just as a red wagon rolled up next to them.</p><p>Greg tied the cord to the handle of the wagon, while Snappy dropped the pink weapon in it.  It weighed much more than Snappy made it appear.  It crushed the wagon, creating a hole in the bottom of the wagon.</p><p>Sundrop, being a glass half full kind of person, jumped up, "It fits!"</p><p>The other two Universes shared a look at each other, while Sunni made his way into the passenger side seat.</p><p>The brothers could both easily fit in the passenger seat together.  Even when Snappy tried to tell them that he didn't really need to use a seatbelt, and the Gems didn't use them when they drove sometimes, Greg never let the pink brother go without one.  It wasn't safe.  What if he got hurt? </p><p>Snapdragon kept looking at the back with a worried expression.  As the Van moved, the cannon scrapped against the ground creating sparks against the asphalt.</p><p>"Is it going to be okay?" Snappy asked.</p><p>Greg just shrugged, but at the sight of his son's worried expression he retried that, "If every porkchop were perfect--"</p><p>"We wouldn't have hot dogs!" Sunni finished.</p><p>Outside the window, they could see the Red Eye getting closer and closer to crashing into Beach City.  Sunni tried to look away, find anything else to focus on.  His eyes zeroed on a shape in his brother's breast pocket.</p><p>"Okay, that thing's starting to freak me out," Greg said, giving the Red Eye a glance from the window.</p><p>Snapdragon stared at his fingers, "Can't we go any faster?"</p><p>When their dad hit the accelerator, their speed didn't really change, "This is faster!"</p><p>In a split second, Sunni grabbed the square shape from his brother and gasped, when he saw it was their dad's old CD.  This would settle everyone for sure.</p><p>"Don't worry," he lifted the CD up.  "Let's put your CD in."</p><p>Embarrassment showed on Greg's face, "What?  Really?  Come on, you've heard it before."</p><p>Sundrop raised his eyebrow a smile formed on his face, "You come on!"</p><p>He slipped the disc in and the music began to play.</p><p>
  <em>"I know I'm not that tall."</em>
</p><p>Sunni began to bounce slightly in his seat and started singing along with the CD.</p><p>
  <em>"I know I'm not that smart.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But let me drive my van into your heart.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Let me drive my van into your heart."</em>
</p><p>Sunni didn't miss the sheepish smile that formed on Greg's face, hearing his son sing along to one of his songs.</p><p>
  <em>"I know I'm not that rich.</em>
</p><p><em>I'm trying to get my</em> start.</p><p><em>So let me drive my van into your heart</em>.</p><p>
  <em>Let me drive my van into your heart."</em>
</p><p>The passed people all looking up at the Red Eye in the sky.  Lars, Sadie, and Mr. Smiley all stared up at the giant sphere in the sky.  Sunni blinked up as it started to really make the environment turn red too.</p><p>
  <em>"And if we look out of place</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, baby, that's okay</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I'll drive us into outer space</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Where we can't hear what people say."</em>
</p><p>They turned the corner on the beach, getting closer and closer to where the Gems were.  Sunni saw Amethyst get brought back by the ocean, she coughed a couple of times before saying something Sunni couldn't hear.</p><p>
  <em>"I know I don't have a plan</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I'm working on that part</em>
</p><p>
  <em>At least I've got a van</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So let me drive my van into your heart</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Let me drive my van into your heart."</em>
</p><p>The three looked up at them with shock.  Sunni couldn't help but grin.  They had the cannon, so now they could save the city!</p><p>Sunni jumped out of the Van after his brother and waved to the Gems.</p><p>"Hey guys!" he skipped towards them.</p><p>Pearl gasped, "He actually had it..."</p><p>"WE'RE SAVED!" Amethyst yelled, shaking the water off herself.</p><p>Sunni clapped his hands together, looking over at Snappy who seemed to be looking at something completely different.  With a frown, he looked where his brother's gaze was and he also stared. The Red Eye was creating some sort of force that pulled everything towards it.  Pieces of building went flying towards it.</p><p>Garnet yelled out over the new rushing noise, "We have to use it now!"</p><p>The tiny human was prepared to get the cannon unhooked and ready to launch it, but when he heard Pearl he froze in place.</p><p>"I don't know how.  It was Rose's!" she yelled.</p><p>Suddenly, Sunni felt something inside of him fall.  They had the weapon, but they didn't know how to use it.  Did they leave the manual back int the garage?!</p><p>Snapdragon turned around, "Dad, do you know how to use it?"</p><p>Greg could only offer a shrug.</p><p>This couldn't be happening. Hopelessness, anger, guilt, disappointment all filled him, and Sunni didn’t understand why. Sure, he’s upset, but his emotions shouldn’t be like this.</p><p>Pearl had gone over to Snappy, trying to get him to think of a way to summon the weapon's power.</p><p>"You have her gem!" she remembered.</p><p>"That's it!" Amethyst picked him up and started to rub Snappy’s gem around on the cannon.  "Come one!"</p><p>Garnet yelled, "Stop that!"</p><p>Pearl agreed, "It's not going to work..."</p><p>Sunni looked at the cannon, setting his hand on the cold surface.  It took a moment for Sunni to realize that it wasn't his disappointment he felt.  He felt worthless.  He felt useless...but it wasn't him.  It was Snapdragon.  He was mumbling words into the side of the cannon that he held on to. He was trying everything he could to get the cannon to just turn on.</p><p>"Fine, just throw me again!" Amethyst jumped up into Garnet's arms, but she wasn't thrown again.</p><p>"That won't work either!" Pearl stated.</p><p>While they argued, Sunni felt the cannon move from his hand.  The force started to pull on the Van, which was still attached to the cannon.  He held on, but it was no use. He wasn’t as strong as the Gems, and his brother was hugging the cannon too much in his head.</p><p>This was just like the shield.</p><p>"I got this!" Greg said before untying the Van from the cannon, which stopped the cannon from moving, but bot the Van.  "Wait!  Uh...no, maybe I don’t!"</p><p>The fear and disappointment grew within Sunni.</p><p>"Please, activate!  We need you...why can't she be here instead..." the last part came out so softly, but Sunni heard it.</p><p>She had given up her form for them.  Sunni was a human, but her gem, Rose Quartz, was right there in Snapdragon's navel.  She was gone.  Sunni only started to realize he had been crying. Not because he was sad. Well, he was extremely sad to feel this is how his brother was feeling, but no…he was crying for Snapdragon. The tears that were coming out of his eyes were meant for Snapdragon.</p><p>Greg must have noticed how distraught they looked because he yelled to them as he struggled with the Van, "Hey, it's okay guys.  We'll figure something even better out."</p><p>A sad smile formed Snapdragon's face.</p><p>"If every porkchop were perfect," Sunni started, the hopelessness started leaving.</p><p>"We wouldn't have hot dogs," Snapdragon finished.</p><p>And just like magic, the weapon started to glow.  The top started to expand resembling a Rose as it started to turn on.  Snapdragon fell off, landing on his back with the sudden motion of the cannon.  Sunni held onto the weapon trying to figure out how it aimed, but suddenly it unhinged falling onto the sandy ground.  It was going fire and completely miss at this angle.  He responded quickly, lifting the cannon up.  Or trying to, as it was extremely heavy compared to anything Sunni's ever had to lift before. His muscles strained as he tried his hardest to get the thing back up.</p><p>All of a sudden, it felt easier.  He turned to see the Gems were also lifting it up. Keeping the end aimed at the Red Eye as it started to close in on the Beach.</p><p>"This is it!" he heard Amethyst yell.</p><p>"Brace yourselves!" Garnet warned.</p><p>Bright light shot from the cannon.  It was beautiful.  The light suddenly resembled a being...a being he's only seen in photos. Awe filled Sunni. A mix of his brothers and his own.</p><p>On impact, the Red Eye exploded.</p><p>Pieces of debris went everywhere. </p><p>Sunni turned around to see Snappy staring at the sky. He smiled as those emotions from before seemed to disappear.  All replaced with a new wave of confidence. He knew that Snapdragon could do it. Now maybe, Snapdragon could that Snapdragon could do it too.</p><p>Amethyst grinned at the two, "You guys just saved most of Beach City!"</p><p>Sunni was confused by “most of”, but the confusion was lifted when he saw that the city was now covered in pieces of the Red Eye and any part that buildings that had been sucked in by the force.</p><p>"SORRY!" Sunni yelled when he saw Fryman.</p><p>"WHAT?" he called back.</p><p>Pearl stepped in turned to Snappy, a look of confusion planted on her face, "How did you even get it to work?"</p><p>Snapdragon shrugged, "We said the thing that dad always says."</p><p>"You mean the thing about Pork Rinds?" she asked</p><p>Garnet set a hand on her shoulder before correcting her, "Hot dogs."</p><p>"Rose..." he heard his dad sniffle.</p><p>Sunni smiled, placing both hands on his hips.  They had managed to save Beach City once again.  A sudden wave of tiredness crashed over him.  Adrenaline had run out.  A little yawn escaped him.  How late was it? It’s got to be past midnight now.</p><p>A wave of water, a side effect from the Red Eye, rushed at them. Sunni laughed tiredly. This was nice.</p><p>The van got washed up in it again.</p><p>"Oh no, the VAN!" Greg yelled chasing after it in the water.</p><p>Sunni blinked sleepily as he saw Snapdragon go after his dad and the van, "Don't worry if every porkchop were perfect--"</p><p>"I live in there!" Greg hag had yelled back.</p><p>"Oh! Let me help!" Sunni went running after the two.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>https://www.deviantart.com/mel-heather/art/Split-Star-Snapdragon-847592446</p><p>It's forever since I used my Deviantart account, but I'm uploading designs for this AU and I'll probably upload them to my Tumblr too once I get a few done.</p><p>Anyway, thanks for the support!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Episode 3: Operation First Mission</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sunni's going on his first mission, and he is going to make sure that he makes a good first impression on it.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first half of the mission had been a success.</p><p>Sure, Snapdragon had been on the sidelines most of the battle with that bird, but he did jump up on the creature's neck in order to stop it from leaving. In the end, the Crystal Gems were able to defeat it.</p><p>The four had to warp back to the Temple quickly, just for Amethyst could leave the egg she had taken from the bird. But...the creature didn't have any use for the thing...anymore.</p><p>Once back, Snapdragon looked for his brother but found that Sundrop was nowhere to be seen. He had wanted to say hi to him before leaving again. He must be on one of his little walks around the city.</p><p>He stared at the refrigerator and back at the large egg in Amethyst's arms. It probably wasn't going to be able to fit inside of there. He didn't even know what they were going to do with such a big egg.</p><p>The front door slammed open, catching Snapdragon's attention. His brother ran into the house but froze when he saw the four. Snapdragon saw the brightness in his brother's eyes double at the sight of them.</p><p>"I didn't think you guys would be back, yet," Sundrop said moving into the house.</p><p>Garnet still covered in feathers was the first to speak.</p><p>"Hello Sunni."</p><p>Snapdragon's eyes snapped to a commotion at the refrigerator. Amethyst had opened it but seemed to be having trouble figuring out how to get the whole thing into it.</p><p>Pearl glared towards the purple gem, "Amethyst! We don't need that. It's not going to fit!"</p><p>"Woah!" Sundrop stared at the blue star-covered egg.</p><p>"What?" Amethyst rolled his eyes. "I got this."</p><p>Snapdragon flinched when he saw her pull out the shelf knocking out a thing of bagels and a carton of milk. However, it did give him a chance to see just how bare the fridge was. He made a note that when they got back, he'd take Sundrop into town to go grocery shopping. Besides, they were definitely going to need more milk now.</p><p>"Look, it fits," she slammed the door and there was the sound of a crack.</p><p>He added clean the refrigerator to the list of chores.</p><p>Pearl's eye began to twitch. That was not a good sign. There was going to be a fight if they didn't get on this mission soon.</p><p>“Oh man, we can make a big omelet or a quiche, or a big sunny side up!” Amethyst thought out loud.</p><p>With a sigh, Pearl turned back towards the confused boy, "We fought a giant bird. We're only here for a second. We got to get back."</p><p>A pout formed on Sundrop's face, "What? Why?"</p><p>Pearl held the Moon Goddess Statue in her hands, showing it to him. She explained it just the same as she did to Snapdragon just a few hours ago.</p><p>“We have to place this Moon Goddess on the top of the Lunar Sea Spiral before midnight. Without it, the whole place would fall apart!” she stated.</p><p>Sundrop's eyes widened. Snapdragon could tell there was an idea spilling around in his brother's mind. One that the gem knew exactly what his brother was thinking. Any chance he got, Sundrop would take it.</p><p>“Oh, Sunni, you should have seen the spire in its heyday,” she showed him a hologram of it from her gem. “It was an oasis for Gems on Earth. It’s abandoned now, but we can still save it with this statue!”</p><p>The box in his arms was clutched a little tighter to his chest, "This is perfect!"</p><p>The hologram ended, "What? Why?"</p><p>Snapdragon watched as Sundrop sat on the ground, opening the box up, "Because I can help you with this!"</p><p>It was a rather large cheeseburger with straps. Snapdragon stared at the fabric before realization hit him. He remembered his brother looking at a catalog a couple of weeks ago but didn't see any problem, so he didn't ask. It was Sundrop's style. A little bit extra, but extremely adorable. Just to add to that, his brother's arms hugged the backpack as he jumped up and down. His pink converses tapping on the ground.</p><p>"A hamburger?" Pearl questioned.</p><p>Sundrop gave a chuckle, "It's a novelty backpack shaped like a cheeseburger. This is important gem business and I can help."</p><p>Pearl agreed, "Yes, this is important gem business, which is why you should let us handle it."</p><p>Sundrop's smile fell.</p><p>Snapdragon couldn't pick either side. It was Sundrop's ideas that allowed them to defeat the Centipeetle and the Red Eye, however, he's never gone on a real mission away from home. Anything could happen. He could end up getting separated. He could have a really bad attack and end up coughing up blood again! Or he might exhaust himself too much to the point that he falls off the spire!</p><p>Slowly, Snapdragon found himself leaning towards one of the sides.</p><p>"Pretty please! With everything on top!" he clasped his hands together.</p><p>Pearl shook her head, "You've still got a lot to learn before you can go on missions."</p><p>Suddenly, Amethyst gave a dramatic sigh, "Than let him come. It'll be educational for him."</p><p>Amethyst was always on Sundrop's side when it came down to these things. Snapdragon knew that he could never be mad at her for it because she was doing something that nobody else in Sundrop's life can do. She looked past his conditions. Maybe it was her reckless nature...or maybe it was something else.</p><p>Pearl frowned, but Snapdragon knew "educational" had already won her over.</p><p>With a sigh, Pearl relented, “Fine you can carry it in your hamburger, but you better also pack anything you’ll need in an emergency.”</p><p>She handed him the statue before he ran off to his room.</p><p>Once Snapdragon was sure his brother was far enough away to not hear him, he started to talk, "Are we sure this is the best idea? This isn't going to be too hard on him, right?"</p><p>Amethyst rolled her eyes, "Of course not, all he's got to do is hold the thing."</p><p>Pearl raised an eyebrow, "Why did you say anything before?"</p><p>He was slight for a moment, "I mean...without him we probably won't have beaten the Centipeetle or the Red Eye...but he's still human and humans are much more fragile compared to gems."</p><p>Garnet settled a hand on his shoulder, "Sunni has surprised us many times before."</p><p>Pearl gave a nod.</p><p>"Kid's gonna be fine," Amethyst agreed.</p><p>That helped a bit with his growing worry. He'd just have to keep an eye on his brother. He could watch both their backs.</p><p>"Okay, I think that should do it!" Sundrop grinned, his bag filled to maximum capacity.</p><p>Pearl scowled at the sight of it, "Did you back your whole room?"</p><p>Sundrop shrugged, "You said whatever I needed for emergencies."</p><p>Amethyst just laughed, "Ya, pack that thing up!"</p><p>Garnet was already on the warp, ready to go, "Let's warp."</p><p>Snapdragon grabbed his brother's arm, pulling him up with the rest of them. The warp closed around them, but Sundrop's stomach was in the way. Snapdragon really wanted to give an exasperated sigh but knew that would hurt Sunni's feelings. It really didn't help that he packed his new backpack until he couldn't fill it with anything else.</p><p>"Suck it in, Sunni!" Amethyst called out over the sound of the warp.</p><p>And with a big inhale, Sundrop was able to get the warp to close around him and they could take off.</p><p>As they started to take off, their hands slipped away from each other grip. He started laughing to himself, grinning as he was basically weightless in this place. This was dangerous for anyone in a warp. He could fall out of the warp and become stuck in empty space!</p><p>"Do you remember how to do this?!" Pearl yelled out to Sundrop as he continued to do a laugh and do a somersault.</p><p>The back of his head landed outside the warp pad, though Sundrop didn't seem to notice the dangers of his actions.</p><p>In a flash, Snapdragon wrapped his body around his Sundrop like a kola, holding onto his body until the warp ended. He wanted Sundrop to take this seriously. Did he see this kind of stuff as a game? Part of Snapdragon wanted Sundrop to be able to go on missions with them, but another part of him knew that his brother was not the most mature person in the world.</p><p>They were a decent way farther up than the Crystal Gems, so when the warp had ended the two fell pretty hard to the ground. Snapdragon had tried to take on as much of the impact as possible.</p><p>A tiny scrap was on Snapdragon's elbow. Honestly, something that no problem with his light body. It was just a scuff mark, no blood. Sundrop though became worried and started rummaging through his bag.</p><p>"I have Cookie Cat, Crying Breakfast Friends, or Vengers," he pulled out three boxes.</p><p>"I don't need--" however Sundrop had already pulled out a Captain La Merica Band-Aid and placed it on the scuff. He gave a little kiss on top of the bandage.</p><p>"There! All better!" he said getting up to his feet and looked around him. "Woah, the spire..."</p><p>Snapdragon could help but think back to the Centipeetle accident. Did Sundrop really think of him as someone as great as Captain La Merica?</p><p>"Oh, it didn't look like this a hundred years ago," Pearl frowned looking around at the scene around them.</p><p>Pieces were crumbling all around them. Cracks covered the whole place. A piece from the top fell to the bottom into the water that surrounded it. Snapdragon nodded; it didn't look anything like the hologram Pearl had shown them.</p><p>"I'm sensing structural instability," Garnet stated after looking around.</p><p>Sundrop nodded as he looked around more and stared off at the water, "Oh yeah. That's never good."</p><p>Oblivious to Sundrop, the ground beneath him started to crumble. Snapdragon was ready to throw his body towards Sundrop, but Pearl had got there first. Grabbing him up in her arms.</p><p>Once he was away from the crumbling ground, Pearl didn't let go of him. Instead, she clutched to him much tighter.</p><p>"That's it we are taking Sundrop back, this is too dangerous for him," Pearl stated.</p><p>Snapdragon gave a nod, and he flinched when he saw a look of betrayal on Sundrop's face. He knew it would be better if Sundrop was back at the beach house. He wasn't prepared for something like this.</p><p>Music interpreted them, though.</p><p>Sundrop jumped out of Pearl's grip and pulled out a stuffed toy from his backpack, "Pup Star!"</p><p>He laughed as he squeezed him tighter to his chest, making the toy play even more of the song.</p><p>“SUNDROP!” Pearl yelled. “This place is your heritage. I want you to stay and help, but you really have to take this seriously.”</p><p>Sundrop held up his thumb, “You got it, dude.”</p><p>“Yessssss,” Pearl frowned, not sounding convinced at all.</p><p>Garnet began to walk to the entrance, “Enough, we have to move.”</p><p>Snapdragon grabbed his brother’s arm and began to pull him behind him. This was going to be an easy mission for his brother. Nothing bad was going to happen. All they had to do was get to the top and put the Moon Goddess Statue up there.</p><hr/><p>Sunni had a skip in his step as he made his way towards the Spire. This was his chance to prove to the others that he could do this. This was his first real mission and had to prove to them that he was ready for this. Amethyst seemed to onboard with letting him come, he couldn't really tell with Garnet but she didn't say anything against him coming with them, but it was Pearl and Snapdragon that appeared to be extremely hesitant about Sundrop coming.</p><p>He bumped into Snappy's back. Sunni rubbed the slight pain away, frowning as he looked up at the reason they were stopped.</p><p>There was a gap between the ground and the building. Looking down, there was only water below them.</p><p>“What the hold-up? We can clear this easy,” Amethyst gestured to the jump.</p><p>“No,” Garnet replied. “The magic that sustains the whirlpool creates a vortex that will pull us down.”</p><p>To demonstrate, she hurled a rock over. It didn’t get far before getting sucked down completely to the water.</p><p>This was business. As much as Sunni thought it'd be cool to jump down, he knew that wasn't the time for that. They needed to get across without getting sucked into the whirlpool. He grabbed his backpack off his back and started to rummage through it. Could he use anything like a grappling hook? There were holes shaped like diamonds on the top that he could use to latch them on to.</p><p>"So, we can't jump?" Pearl asked.</p><p>Snapdragon frowned, "Maybe we can make a—”</p><p>"Perfect!" Sunni grinned pulling out two of his sweaters that he packed. He tied them together and stood back up.</p><p>Amethyst was the first to question him, "What's that for?"</p><p>Sunni pulled them a little tighter, "Well, normally I'd use them if I get too cold and need to warm back up, but now..."</p><p>He threw one end at the diamond-shaped hole, allowing it to loop around and he caught the end pulling at the two ends in his hands. Once he knew he was secure in his spot, he jumped off the cliff.</p><p>
  <strong>"NO!"</strong>
</p><p>"SUNNI!"</p><p>"WAIT!"</p><p>Sunni hit the wall and started to feel the magic pull him down. He had to loop the sleeves around his hands in order to keep himself from falling in. He had to do this. Right now, he could let his body stop him. This was his chance to prove to the others that he was a Crystal Gem.</p><p>"SUNDROP!" everyone yelled out behind him.</p><p>This was his chance. He strained his muscles. Pulling harder on the sleeves.</p><p>He found his footing. Pushing against the wall with both his converse.</p><p>"Cheeeeeeese..." he found himself running up the wall. "...buuuurr..." he could see the top. "gurrrr...!"</p><p>He landed on the top, completely letting go of the sweaters as he placed both of his arms straight out. His body felt like it was going to collapse, and he could feel ever organ in his body curse at him for doing something so reckless to it, but a wave of confidence washed over him. Sundrop Rose Universe had managed to get onto the other side and into the spire.</p><p>He did it.</p><p>Cheering caught his attention, "Yeah Sunni! C'mon guys!"</p><p>Amethyst grinned as she summoned her whip, throwing the end of it at the same diamond hole that Sunni had used. She lifted the three gems into her arms with no problem and swung over.</p><p>"Sunni Style!" she yelled out.</p><p>In the blink of an eye, Snappy ran to his brother holding him in his arms a little too tight. Sunni could only give an awkward chuckle as he was pushed against Snappy's chest.</p><p>They had gotten over. His idea had actually worked.</p><p>"Don't do that ever again!" Pearl yelled in her usual worried tone, at least it always seemed like that whenever she directed her attention to Sunni.</p><p>His smile fell. Was this the end of his mission? Would the send him back over?</p><p>A hand settled on his head. A hand that couldn't be mistaken for another because he could feel the surface of a cool gem settled on his dark brown hair. Sunni looked up at Garnet...and she started to make her way through the inside of the spire.</p><p>Amethyst gave him a grin and thumbs up before following after their leader.</p><p>"But that was pretty great," Pearl smiled down at him and also went up into the spire.</p><p>His smile returned as she stared down at his brother's pink arms, wrapped around his front. One arm left in order to fiddle with his blue hair tied to the back of his head.</p><p>"You okay there Snappy?" Sunni asked</p><p>There was a brief moment of silence. Sunni settled his on hon on top of his brother's arms, trying to comfort him in some sort of way.</p><p>"That was dangerous," Snappy stated.</p><p>A wave of fear ran through Sundrop. It was mixed with relief, but he also felt some regret. This again? He frowned, quick to wipe away the tears that had started to fall.</p><p>"And I'm fine," Sunni reassured him. "Now let's go catch up with the others before we seriously get left behind."</p><p>It was reluctant, but Snappy did release him from his grip. However, just like before he grabbed his hand and held it tight, but not crushing.</p><p>When they met up with the others, Pearl had been fretting about the place. Taking it all in, the place didn't look as pretty as what Sunni had though. And it smelled really bad.</p><p>“Oh, no, no, no, this is even worse than the outside. Ugh... that's... oh! Oh, this didn't use to be so— Oh, and the water damage. This pillar... Oh, and this had a head... Oh, once the statue's in place, it'll restore all of this to its former glory-...” the statue she had stopped in front of his tiny little creatures crawling up. She screamed and summoned her spear, cutting the statue diagonally down the middle.</p><p>The twins blinked at what she had done, not sure how to react.</p><p>"What was that goober?" Sunni finally asked.</p><p>"Crystal Shrimp," she stated before leaving.</p><p>They looked like pretty mollusks to Sunni. They had sharp points on them, but other than that Sunni didn't see what could be dangerous about them.</p><p>"Uh, guys?" Amethyst called down to them. "We've got a problem."</p><p>It was a lot more of those Crystal Shrimp blocking their path to the doorway. Sunni smiled at one that close to him. They were kind of cute. If it wasn't for Snappy's hand, Sunni would have bent down and started to stroke on of them.</p><p>Pearl frowned placing a hand on her chin, “It’s an infestation. And we’ll have to pass through there to get to the top."</p><p>"Can't we just squish them?" Snappy asked.</p><p>It must have been then that Pearl realized just how close the two of them were to the Shrimp because she grabbed the two by the shoulder and pulled them back.</p><p>“No, their shards are deadly!” Pearl replied, pushing them a good distance away from them.</p><p>So, they needed to get through without touching the shrimps. Sunni pulled his backpack off of his shoulders, sticking his hand into it.</p><p>Pearl made a hologram of Amethyst, “Amethyst, if you go around to the side and disturb them with a spin attack and disturb them with a spin attack,” she then made a hologram of Garnet on the ceiling. “And Garnet, if you move to the ceiling and strike this exact spot…” she projects and X. She projects herself “then I can advance with my—”</p><p>"SNACKS!" Sunni yelled out throwing a couple of snack cakes out on either side of the floor. Within seconds, the little guys crawled over to the food and started to munch on the white frosted strawberry cake.</p><p>Originally, he had packed them in case they had to stay here for a couple of days. The gems didn't tell him how long he'd be here after all. But it was needed now.</p><p>"Brilliant," Garnet stated.</p><p>Amethyst grinned, "Oh hey, what do you know."</p><p>Pearl's hologram disappeared, "How did you know that would work?"</p><p>"Well, if I was a shrimp, that's what I would do," Sunni shrugged and placed his backpack back on his back.</p><p>The purple gem snorted, "You are a shrimp."</p><p>Snappy settled his free hand on his brother's shoulder, "Good job."</p><p>As the group started to make their way past the shrimp, Pearl frowned, "I just want everyone to know that my plan would have worked."</p><p>They were near the top. Excitement began to burst within Sunni's chest. Their first mission, and it's almost complete.</p><p>"Watch out!" Garnet yelled, stopping them once again.</p><p>A crack burst the wall, allowing a force of water to come through. It was too fast for them to cross and looked extremely dangerous.</p><p>Sunni looked up and felt all eyes on him. Everyone was looking at him.</p><p>"What? Me?" Sunni blinked up at them.</p><p>"What have you got?" Garnet asked.</p><p>Amethyst started to chant, "Cheeseburger Backpack! Cheeseburger Backpack!"</p><p>Sunni began to pull his backpack off.</p><p>Did he have something for this?</p><p>Snappy started to chant along with Amethyst, "Cheeseburger Backpack! Cheeseburger Backpack!"</p><p>Everyone was depending on him now. It felt strange. None of the gems have ever seemed to need to look to him for help before. They've never seemed to depend on Sunni for an idea.</p><p>"C'mon Pearl!" Amethyst yelled.</p><p>"Oh, alright," Pearl replied, a smile on her face.</p><p>"Cheeseburger Backpack! Cheeseburger Backpack!" the three chanted.</p><p>Sunni smiled much wider, feeling pumped.</p><p>And suddenly he had it. A few months back, the gems had been worried about the beach house getting flooded because of a gem monster lurching around the city. They were able to control the ocean, so in case of the house getting flooded, they gave him a precaution.</p><p>"A raaaaaft!" he yelled out, and with a quick pull of the string allowing it to inflate.</p><p>"Wow..." he heard Garnet and Amethyst say in unison.</p><p>Pearl smiled, "Oh Sunni, that so practical."</p><p>Snappy gave a thumbs up.</p><p>Sunni made his way over to the rushing water. His excitement though, made him forget one thing as he laid the raft down.</p><p>The water instantly picked up the raft and sent it over the edge. Sunni could only stare as a flush of embarrassment covered his cheeks. He blinked thinking that the raft would just come back, or it was just an illusion and the raft was still here.</p><p>He heard Pearl, Amethyst, and Snappy all grown behind him.</p><p>His blush grew darker.</p><p>He wrapped his arm around his waist, hugging himself tightly. The raft didn't work. They were all looking to him for once and he failed. If he was ever going to be a Crystal Gem, he had to learn to not make mistakes like this. Ones that are so easy to see, but he couldn’t think them through.</p><p>There was a crash behind them, causing the four to turn and see Garnet had knocked over a pillar. Now there was a bridge they could easily walk over.</p><p>"Good idea anyway, Sunni," Garnet said as she walked over the pillar.</p><p>He felt bad as the others walked over.</p><p>Amethyst gave him a supportive smile, "They all can't be winners."</p><p>Snappy settled his hand on his shoulder.</p><p>They were trying to make him feel better, but he still felt bad. They had all trusted him and he screwed up. Maybe they were right. Maybe…Sunni wasn’t prepared for this.</p><p>He followed after them silently.</p><p>Once at the top, he stared at the prettiness. At least, he had some part to play in making this place work again. A smile formed again as he slowly forgot about his earlier mishap.</p><p>“This is it. The Moon Goddess pedestal,” Pearl looked up at the sky, to the moon. “And the moon is almost overhead! It’s not too late to save this piece of history!”</p><p>“Sundrop, the statue,” Garnet said.</p><p>He nodded, reaching his hand into his backpack, but frowned.</p><p>Oh no!</p><p>This couldn't be happening!</p><p>He searched and searched going through every single pocket. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find it anywhere.</p><p>"What's the hold-up?" Amethyst asked.</p><p>Sunni's stomach dropped, "I don't have it..."</p><p>The Gems gasped.</p><p>"WHAT!?!?!?!?!" Pearl yelled.</p><p>Sunni felt like he was going to cry, "I must have left it on the bed!"</p><p>Complete and utter dread filled him. How could he let this happen? It was his one job and Sunni blew it. He had been so preoccupied with getting things he thought he might need when the one thing he really needed was gone.</p><p>"It's too late..." Pearl whispered as she looked at the moon coming overhead.</p><p>Sunni's hand squeezed something soft.</p><p>"WAIT!" he pulled out Pup Star. "I have an idea!"</p><p>“Aah,” Pearl frowned.</p><p>“Would that work?” Amethyst asked Garnet.</p><p>Garnet just shrugged.</p><p>Sunni held the toy in his hands walking forward to the pedestal. He held his breath as he placed his stuffed toy on there. His fingers crossed as he backed up, pleading to himself that this would work. This had to work.</p><p>Light formed on the pedestal and began to lift up his stuffed dog. However, it got a couple of feet above before starting to shake violently. Within seconds, it exploded.</p><p>Everyone screamed.</p><p>Sunni backup, as the ground began to shake. This was his fault. He was stupid and forgot the statue. He messed up his first ever mission. Maybe…his last mission ever.</p><p>If he had just put the statue in first, he wouldn’t be in the mess.</p><p>Cracks formed beneath his feet.</p><p>The waterfall around them started to close in too.</p><p>"Everyone keep steady!" Garnet yelled out to them just before Amethyst fell into her.</p><p>Everything was happening too fast.</p><p>"No, no, no, no, no!" Sunni gasped.</p><p><strong>"SUNDROP!"</strong> that was Snappy.</p><p>He looked around, but the ground beneath him was gone and he felt cold water surrounded him.</p><hr/><p>Snapdragon gasped as he rose from the water. Where was Sundrop? Had he not emerged yet? Taking in the temperature, his brother wouldn't be able to survive in it for too long. Especially if he was underwater!</p><p>There was a gasp and Sundrop rose from the water, coughing up the water that entered his lungs.</p><p>The others rose as Snapdragon swam himself towards his brother, pulling him into his arms. He had to make sure his brother was safe. His black hair clung to his face, as a tiny sob broke through him.</p><p>"This is all my fault! I broke it!" he yelled before breaking away from his brother's grip.</p><p>When he tried to go and comfort his brother, Sundrop only swam a little bit away. This wasn't good. Sundrop that was the comforter, not Snapdragon. Though, even if he was much better at comforting, he was harder to comfort. He was so much more emotional than him. If Sundrop did something wrong, he did not think he deserved another chance.</p><p>But that wasn’t the point. It was the first time he was taken out on a mission. It would be crazy to think everything he did would be perfect…besides, he hasn’t had that much training other than some lessons on simple things.</p><p>"No, Sundrop," Pearl called out. "The Spire was apart when we got here. You handled everything well under pressure. You did great!"</p><p>Sundrop wiped his nose, blinking. That allowed Snapdragon to grab him again. Hopefully, he wouldn't run away this time.</p><p>"Yeah," Amethyst smiled at him. "Two out of four of your idea worked. That's fifty percent!"</p><p>Sundrop nodded, "Yeah...I guess your right..."</p><p>Snapdragon smiled, "They all can't be winners."</p><p>With his brother calm, he had planned to put him on his back, so he didn't have to swim all the way back. However, before he could a woosh of water and the raft from earlier appeared.</p><p>"WHOOOO!" Sunni yelled out.</p><p>They climbed onto the raft, he found himself once again chanting along with Pearl and Amethyst.</p><p>"It's a three-hour paddle home," Garnet stated, causing the three of them to stop.</p><p>Snapdragon's body instantly dried, that happened a lot when you’re practically a glow stick. He pulled off his button-up and pulled it around his brother, who rummaged through his backpack.</p><p>"Oh sweet! The cakes are dry!" Sundrop smiled pulling out a couple. "Anyone want one?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This one took a while because I had to write a paper for my college class this week, but that's over!  And I did make my deadline!</p><p>Anyway, thanks for all the support!  And I hope you have a wonderful day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Episode 4: Temple Run</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Running around the temple wasn't on the top of Snapdragon's to-do list, yet her he was.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sunni tightened his bow as he stepped out of the bathroom.  He was wearing his normal outfit of a pink star shirt, a pair of denim shorts that went to his mid-thigh, light blue socks that matched his bow and detached sleeves, and pink converse.  His loose curls were styled as they normally were, hanging over his right eye.  He mostly wore the same thing every day unless it got too cold then he tried to put on something warmer.</p><p>He smiled at the sight of his brother who was sitting reading a book of some sort. Snappy tended to be a bit of a book worm. While Sunni would spend his time reading comics and manga, Snappy would read textbooks about science or philosophy or anything that made Sunni’s head spin.</p><p>The others weren’t anywhere. That was strange. If there was a mission, wouldn’t Snappy be on it too?</p><p>"Are the gems out or something?" the human brother asked making his way to the kitchen.</p><p>Snappy looked up from his book for a moment, "Garnet went a mission she had deemed too dangerous for the rest of us.  Amethyst went into town earlier.  And I believe Pearl is still in the Temple."</p><p>With a nod, Sunni started to look out ingredient for the perfect breakfast, "So, it's up to us to make breakfast for everyone."</p><p>Snappy walked over, setting his book on the counter, "Sundrop, the Gems don't need to-"</p><p>"Come on!" Sunni interrupted.  "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  You get the maple syrup while I put the waffles in."</p><p>He didn’t leave any room for argument. Sunni still felt like he needed to apologize about the Spire. Breakfast would be a great way to do so. He threw in as many toaster waffles as he could while going into thought.</p><p>Once they popped up, Sunni grabbed them and Snappy drowned them in maple syrup.</p><p>They waited a moment for the others to come, but when they didn't show, Sunni got a can of whipped cream and sprayed it on the top.</p><p>They waited again for the gems, then Snappy put in three bags of popcorn, and when they were done he dumped them on top of the breakfast.</p><p>They waited once more, and when no one showed Sunni put a strawberry on the top. It was done all their tweaking had made the breakfast perfect! A masterpiece of all things that were sure to make an amazing start to the day.</p><p>"It's perfect!" Sunni whispered, stars in his eyes.  "Now we just have to wait."</p><p>Snappy jumped up on the counter, picking up his book and started to read it.</p><p>"Sundrop, Gems don't need to-" Snappy had started once again, but the sound of the warp interrupted him this time.</p><p>Garnet stood there, in her hands was a scroll of some sort.</p><p>Sunni grinned.  Now he just had to wait for Pearl and Amethyst to get here!</p><p>"Garnet!  Check it out!" Sunni was quick to run up to her, pointing over to the breakfast the two brothers had worked.  "I know it's not healthy, but you can say that it's a balanced breakfast!"</p><p>He strained a smile, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of the gem, but she only stared at him.</p><p>Garnet was a mystery to Sunni.  She was always quiet and serious... She was calm and patient and she scared away all the scary monsters, but you could never really have a conversation with her, and that made Sunni sad.  He wanted to talk to her.  He wanted to get to know her better.</p><p>"We made breakfast for everyone," Snappy jumped down from his spot.  “It was Sunni's idea.  He wanted everyone to be together."</p><p>"Like best buds!" Sunni bounced up and down.</p><p>Garnet turned to the temple door, "I can't stay.  There is business to be done in the temple."</p><p>Both of her gems glowed, and her room opened.</p><p>Snappy took a step forward, "What business?"</p><p>She unrolled the scroll for the two of them to see.  At first glance, Sunni would have thought it was cool, but he could feel pain coming off it.  Whispers filled his head.  Anger and rage seemed to take over him. Sunni didn’t like it.</p><p>He looked over to Snappy, but he seemed to be doing okay.  Is it only him that could feel this?  He was quick to shake off these emotions. Forcing himself to think of happy things like candy and baby animals. </p><p>This was new.</p><p>"I have to burn this," Garnet stated.</p><p>Before either could say anything else, the leader of the Crystal Gems closed the scroll and walked into the temple with the door closing quickly behind her.</p><p>He didn't remember his fist being clenched tightly until Snappy grabbed his hand and gently pulled back his fingers. Did that thing make him do it?</p><p>"It won't take her too long," Snappy reassured him.  "Besides, we still have to wait for Pearl and Amethyst."</p><p>And just like that the door slammed opened and a purple police officer barged into the house.</p><p>"This is the Dumb Police!  Uh, your dumb!" the officer fired their water gun, the water aimed at the breakfast.</p><p>A force slammed into Sunni, pushing him out of the way.  He looked up just in time to see Snappy throw his body in front of the meal.  What a hero!</p><p>The officer laughed, and their head shapeshifted into Amethyst, "Ha!  I got you good!  You two should have seen the look on your faces."</p><p>Snappy rolled his eyes as his body instantly began to dry, "We knew it was you Amethyst."</p><p>"Uh, how?" she frowned.</p><p>"Because that's a water gun!" Sunni stated, crossing his arms.</p><p>He was upset his mind was filled with too many complicated emotions for him to handle at the moment.  Sure, he knew Amethyst wouldn't mean to destroy their breakfast.  But she could have...at least Snappy had good reflexes.</p><p>"That's not the reason I would have gone with," Snappy frowned, his arms crossed over his chest.</p><p>"You have something on your shirt," Amethyst pointed.</p><p>Snappy looked down, "It should have-"</p><p>She fired the water gun on him and hit him in the face. Rewetting his shirt.</p><p>Amethyst started to laugh and Sunni couldn't stop the chuckle that left him.  His brother did walk into that one.</p><p>Before Snappy would make a remark, the temple door opened again.</p><p>Amethyst threw the water gun away, "Hey, that my room!"</p><p>As she shapeshifted back, she ran over.</p><p>It was Pearl, holding a sword.</p><p>An annoyed look took over her features when she saw the purple gem, "Amethyst, care to tell me what one of my swords was doing in your room?"</p><p>"Having a sword party," she shrugged.</p><p>"Oh please, you took it!" Pearl stated.</p><p>"No, I didn't!" Amethyst yelled.</p><p>Sunni shrunk back from the fighting.  He always hated it when they fought.  They never tried to talk anything out...instead, the two just pointed fingers and it always made him uncomfortable. But it wasn’t his business to get between their fight. The two would work it out eventually.</p><p>"It's fine.  It's in the past.  Oh, and I took the liberty of cleaning up that awful, awful mess," Pearl turned, placing her sword on her shoulder.</p><p>"You did what!?" Amethyst started running toward her room.  "I have a system!"</p><p>"Amethyst, wait!" Sunni called out, but it was in vain.  Her door closed, no way of getting in.</p><p>Pearl frowned, "What's wrong, Sundrop?"</p><p>"Well, Snappy and I made breakfast for everyone and it's been a while since we've all been able to sit down and just hang," Sunni replied, it felt nice getting that off his chest. “And I wanted to—"</p><p>When he looked up, Pearl wasn't listening and as she went to her room, her door opening.</p><p>"Wait!" Sunni turned to the breakfast, he'd grab it and bring it to the gems.  "This can't become brunch!"</p><p>Just as he turned, he saw a flash of pink and the door closed. </p><p>Snappy was in the temple, going to get the Gems, while Sunni was alone in the temple. He knew it. The Spire had set him back. He had made so much more progress with being in gem situations.</p><p>Now he was alone, just like before.</p><hr/><p>Snapdragon looked around hoping to find the gems.  Make Sundrop happy. All his brother wanted was for the Gems to be here. It wasn’t that hard, was it? He didn’t know what happened with the scroll thing, but he knew it was bad news. The way Sundrop was acting, it was unusual. Did the scroll have a different effect on humans? He didn’t want to risk that and his brother getting hurt, so he left him. It shouldn’t be long though. No more than twenty minutes to find the three.</p><p>Water surrounded him.</p><p>It was everywhere, all of it falling down.</p><p>It was pretty. Something that Sundrop would gush about.</p><p>He spotted Pearl as she did a dance to summon a bunch of other swords.  The one that she had taken from Amethyst was placed back in its scabbard.</p><p>"Pearl!" he called out to her.</p><p>The gem turned to him frowning as the swords disappeared, "Snapdragon, what are you doing here?"</p><p>Snapdragon took a step on the water finding that he was able to stand on it. It was strange. It looked like water, but it felt like solid ground. But even though it was strange, it was something Snapdragon has become quite used to.</p><p>"We prepared breakfast," he replied.  "Sundrop really wants us all to be together."</p><p>Pearl raised an eyebrow making her way closer to him, "You know that a gem doesn't need to eat."</p><p>He only offered a shrug, “It's not about that.  Sundrop just wants to spend time with all of us that does not involve a mission."</p><p>He took another step but found this one wasn’t like the one he had before. Instead of his foot hitting solid ground it hit water and he fell through the floor.  He was sinking.  The last thing he heard was Pearl cry out his name.  </p><p>It was pushing him.  He was being pushed farther away from Pearl.  Away from the only safety, he knew at the moment.</p><p>Snapdragon did now the layout of the Temple.  There were so many different rooms that Snapdragon would never be able to keep track of them all.  It didn't help that this was his first time in the Temple on his own.  Other than coming in on a few mission related things and the Gems trying to access his mother’s room, but that was it. And Snapdragon had always been with one of the other gems.</p><p>Snapdragon wished for the water to stop, so he'd be able to stop and wait for Pearl to come back. He was happy that gems couldn't drown. If he was human, he would have probably died by now.</p><p>And suddenly, as fast as it started, Snapdragon found himself in a puddle of water.  He blinked around seeing piles junk all around him.  He knew this room. Snapdragon’s seen it before, but which room was it?</p><p>A pile of junk fell in front of him forced him to look up.</p><p>"Oh Snaps," Amethyst jumped down.  "I didn't think I'd find you here all by yourself."</p><p>It was Amethyst’s.</p><p>Snapdragon brushed some water droplets off of himself, "I followed in after Pearl.  What are you doing?"</p><p>She shrugged, "Just trying to fix what Pearl did.  It's horrible.  She organized everything."</p><p>Snapdragon looked around.</p><p>"It looks messy to me," he replied.</p><p>There were random objects everywhere in piles all over her room. He didn’t know how she could keep it like this. Snapdragon was always cleaning up after his brother because sometimes Sundrop could be a slop, but this was a whole new level.</p><p>"Thanks, I try," with that, she flipped over another pile.  "Wait, where's Sunni at?  You two are like joined at the hip."</p><p>"I'm trying to find everyone, so we can all have breakfast.  Sunni and I spent the morning making it and it would be nice if everyone could join us," Snapdragon explained. “Besides, it too dangerous for Sundrop to come here.”</p><p>She rolled her eyes, “You can’t look after him forever. One day Sunni’s going to be off fighting monster bigger than this room and you'll be somewhere else?”</p><p>No.</p><p>That couldn’t happen. Sundrop wasn’t safe without Snapdragon. They needed each other. Without Sundrop, Snapdragon couldn't feel whole.</p><p>“Dude,” Amethyst poked his shoulder, a look of regret took over her face. “Look just forget that. You said something about breakfast. Let’s go find Pearl and Garnet. Okay?”</p><p>Snapdragon nodded, reminding himself that Sundrop was back at the Beach House. Where he would be fine until Snapdragon got back.</p><p>It was quiet among them.  Not a weird uncomfortable silence, but one that no one had anything to talk about, so neither side did.  Their relationship wasn't like Sundrop's and Amethyst's, but it wasn't like Pearl's and Amethyst's either. </p><p>While Amethyst would ways joke with Sundrop, she tries to make small talk with Snapdragon.  And if she ever messed with him, it was to make Sundrop laugh.  They never argued, either.  While Pearl and Amethyst seemed to find a new thing to argue about, Snapdragon and Amethyst would just sit in silence.</p><p>It wasn't bad.  They just didn’t have a lot in common.</p><p>His foot landed on something strange, making him look down at whatever it was he had stepped on.  Snapdragon frowned at a pink thing with white points at the top.  It seemed to be able to open up if you spread the sides out.</p><p>"What's this?" he asked lifting it up.</p><p>Amethyst tilted her head, "Oh that?  Another stupid thing that fell from Pearl's room.  She's never come looking for it, so it's just been here."</p><p>“Fell from?” he asked while picking it up to inspect it.</p><p>“Yeah, just like that dumb sword of hers. The water comes through and drops in a bunch of her stuff. Then she goes on to blame me for it!” she threw her arms in the air.</p><p>Snapdragon lifted it up, "Well, we should probably return it to her."</p><p>The other gem just gave him a shrug.</p><p>He lifted it into his right hand inspecting it a little more.  A white ribbon stuck out at the bottom.  It was light.  Extremely light. However, he couldn’t open it, no matter how hard he tried.  He gave up on trying to open it, holding it in his right hand and continuing on.</p><p>Their path was extremely weird and twisted. The ground twisted so that they were upside down for a while. Then they had to jump across a bunch of rocks. Snapdragon had no idea the temple of so big! It was amazing! It had all these quirks that made each and every part of the temple have its own unique display!</p><p>He’s always wanted to have a bigger tour of the temple. To get to see all of its wonders. He couldn’t believe he was here!</p><p>But he could focus on that now.  Snapdragon had his own mission. He had to find the Pearl and Garnet.</p><p>Amethyst had walked on ahead as he was busy with his sightseeing.  She had made her way towards an opening of some sort.  She stood there, not going further.</p><p>"Amethyst, what's-" he started, but stopped at the sight in front of him.</p><p> Above was a giant heart that appeared to be made of some sort of crystal substance. Pipes came out of it like valves and aortas. Only a single pipe went through the bottom.</p><p>"There you are!" Pearl appeared across from them.</p><p>Snapdragon turned his head towards her, "Pearl. Now, all we need to do is find Garnet."</p><p>“You shouldn’t be here. This is the Crystal Heart and…” Pearl's eye zeroed in on the object in Snapdragon's arm, "Where did you get that?"</p><p>"Oh, I found this in Amethyst's room," Snapdragon had started, prepared to go into full depth with the story however an argument started before he could.</p><p>"You had to take this too!" she yelled throwing her hands into the air.</p><p>"I told you I didn't take anything from your room!" Amethyst glared crossing her arms over her chest.</p><p>Snapdragon took a step back hoping to avoid their fight.</p><p>"This is so like you!" Pearl placed her hand on her gem.</p><p>"What?!" Amethyst glared.</p><p>"You never take responsibility for your actions," Pearl states in a strained voice.</p><p>"Did you ever try to find whatever that is?" Amethyst asked.  "Because your sword goes missing in a day and you're in my room, but that been there for months!  You even messed up my system and overlooked it!"</p><p>"Guys?" he tried.</p><p>"I didn't realize it was missing," she continued.</p><p>"What even is it?!" Amethyst pointed towards the object.</p><p>That caused Snapdragon to take another step, but this time his leg hit the back of a small wall surrounding the only pipe that went through the floor.  He tripped. On reflex, he twisted his body around and grabbed onto the pipe to keep himself from falling through the floor.</p><p>"Snapdragon!"</p><p>"Snaps!"</p><p>"Guys!  What do I do?" he called out.  Below him it was dark and didn’t seem to be like the other parts of the Temple he just been to.</p><p>If he moved he risked falling deeper into the temple.</p><p>"Hold on, that Crystal Pipe is connected to the Burning Room," Pearl moved forward to try and grab him, but with no traction, Snapdragon felt himself falling.</p><p>"Oh no!" with that he fell.</p><p>Darkness surrounded him.  His body provided some light, but it didn't really help.</p><p>A sudden change caught his attention or really his gem's attention.  It was brighter, pinker, and felt softer to him.</p><p>But as fast as it happened, Snapdragon was back in the dark.</p><p>Why did he leave Sundrop?</p><p>As selfish as it was, he wanted his brother here with him. Sundrop was the comforter. He hugged and cared and his energy just seemed to make all the bad thoughts go away. All he had to do was hum a silly song or brush a hand through your hair and everything felt safe again.</p><p>His body hugged the pipe a little tighter.</p><p>The pipe came to a slant letting him stop.  He breathed out a breath. It was a pretty far jump below him. </p><p>He looked around for something easier to jump to, but he stopped when his eyes landed on Garnet. Wasn’t she burning the scroll? Pearl did say this was the Burning Room. Snapdragon found himself looking closer at the scene in front of him. Garnet started to submerge the scroll and bubbled it, letting lava in and start to burn the scroll. As it was happening, black smoke filled the bubble.</p><p>"Snapdragon!" he heard Pearl whisper out to him.  "You need to leave now.  It really isn't safe here."</p><p>“Yeah,” Amethyst called out as softly as she could. “The doors opened, we can just wait for Garnet there.”</p><p>He wanted to question her.  Why wasn't it safe?  It was just a scroll.  He didn’t like being out of the loop like this. He was a Crystal Gem too.</p><p>But he knew the Gems understood this stuff better than him.  So, he jumped down from the pipe hoping to sneak off with Pearl and Amethyst.  However, when he landed there was a vibration that went throughout the room.  He froze.</p><p>Garnet turned towards him spotting him easily, "Snapdragon, get out of here!"</p><p>She was too distracted on him to notice. The smoke within the bubble was trying to escape. It was…alive!</p><p>He was frozen.</p><p>His eye locked onto the bubble.</p><p>Just as he lifted his finger to point an explosion of black smoke entered the room.</p><p>Before any of the gems could react, it made its way out the room.</p><p>"We need to catch it before it leaves the Temple," Garnet said.</p><p>They didn’t even get a chance to leave the room when they heard a scream.  A familiar one that made Snapdragon run past the others. He didn’t know where he was going, but he followed where his gem told him to go.</p><p>And Snapdragon got there in time to see the black smoke charge at his brother, forcing him to land on his back.</p><p>
  <strong>"Sundrop."</strong>
</p><hr/><p>"Snappy! Amethyst!  Garnet!  Pearl!" Sunni called out to the emptiness around him.</p><p>He made sure to hold the breakfast in his hands as he walked around.  If everyone else couldn't make it, he just bring it to them. Though he didn’t know where he was going. And Sunni was pretty sure he’s just been running around in circles.</p><p>There wasn't much around here that caught his eye.</p><p>It was Amethyst's room that he entered.  He had been concerned why the door was opened and no one came out.</p><p>"Guys, I brought breakfast!" he continued to call out.</p><p>His only response was nothing.</p><p>He knew he had to work to prove himself again. But he could start with this. Manage to navigate himself through the Temple.</p><p>A rush of black caught his eye from the side. He nearly didn't have enough time to move out of the way for…a bunch of black smoke?</p><p>It zeroed in on him.</p><p>Sunni screamed as loud as he could, taking a couple of steps back.</p><p>It rushed towards him.</p><p>He heard someone say his name.</p><p>Before he could even turn the smoke hit him.  When he didn't feel anything, he looked down to see that it hadn't been going for him. It had gone for breakfast.</p><p>Instantly, the food enlarged and started to take the form of a monster.</p><p>A force pushed him to the right and made him let go of the plate.</p><p>Snapdragon!</p><p>His brother kept him behind, using his body as a shield.</p><p>Sunni stared as the gems entered to see the monster too.</p><p>"It has all the power of breakfast," Garnet said.  "We have to get it back to the Burning Room."</p><p>Sunni blinked past his brother seeing the gems fight the breakfast monster. But it didn’t seem to be going well. Garnet’s gauntlet was stuck in the monster and Amethyst was trying to pull her out. Pearl on the other hand had gotten stuck in the whipped cream and was complaining about how sticky it was.</p><p>"Snappy!  We have to help!" Sunni tried to move.  "Where's the Burning Room?"</p><p>Snappy grabbed his brother's hand, "You need to leave.  Get out of the temple now."</p><p>Sunni felt something shift in his stomach. Anger…rage…pain…just like with the scroll. Was this the scroll? Or was this him?</p><p>Snappy continued, "Sunni just—"</p><p>"No, Snapdragon! We're in this together!” tears streamed from his face.  "You can't just continue to leave me behind all of the time!"</p><p>"I don't leave you behind," but Sunni could tell his brother didn’t believe it.</p><p>Almost instantly Sunni felt bad.  He shouldn’t lay this on his brother now.  Not when there was a monster trying to kill everyone.</p><p>"Hey! " Sunni said, acting without thinking.  "Lunch is far more superior to you!"</p><p>It turned to him rushing.</p><p>With that, he took himself deeper into the temple.  Running from something that took over his breakfast and was planning on killing him. As long as it got away from the gems, he could do this. They’d be able to defeat it!</p><p>It flung a waffle at him.</p><p>Sunni didn't have any time to think as he covered his head for impact.</p><p>But it never came.</p><p>Snappy had intervened.  He stood between them holding a giant waffle in one hand before throwing it back at the monster</p><p>"Hold this," he handed something pink and white in Sunni's hands.  "Come on shield work now!"</p><p>His arm was out in front of him, he was trying to will it again. Sunni knew that wasn’t going to work though. Every time he’s tried to summon his weapon like that it hasn’t worked.</p><p>The thing snarled and started moving towards them after the blow.</p><p>"Snappy," Sunni pulled on his brother's arm.  "We need to lead it to the Burning Room."</p><p>"Right," Snappy lowered his arm and grabbed onto his brother's hand pulling him in the right direction.</p><p>Even with the monster on their heels, Sunni felt instantly safer.</p><p>Because Snapdragon was here with him.</p><p>It was instantly hotter when they entered the Burning Room.</p><p>"We need to get it in the lava," Snapdragon pointed towards the pit.</p><p>With a screech, it entered. Charging right at them.</p><p>Another waffle was thrown, however, it was Sunni that moved first.</p><p>"Look out!" Sunni yelled.</p><p>The object in his hands opened. And he slashed it through the air, cutting the food completely in half and away from them.</p><p>The weapon a semi-circle of pink with shard white points coming up.  A darker pink ribbon pattern was on each section along with a familiar rose.</p><p>That didn't stop the monster, though, as it came closer and closer to them.</p><p>However, a punch from a familiar set of gauntlets sent it into the wall.</p><p>That was when Sunni saw it.  The monster still had the plate. That was it. All the food was coming off it. That was the weak point!</p><p>"Go under and push from the plate, I’ll get it over here,” Sunni yelled as the Gems worked on fighting it.</p><p>Snappy placed his hand on his brother's shoulder before throwing himself under the monster to get to the plate.</p><p>Sunni stood with the well behind him.</p><p>"You were supposed to bring us together!  Not tear us apart!" Sunni yelled getting its attention.  "I get that you're in pain.  Your hurting so much right now.  You’re tearing us apart because you were torn apart too, weren't you?”</p><p>The monster let out an inhuman noise before charging at him.</p><p>Sunni felt his legs hit the edge.  He kept the weapon out in front of him just in case. It had to get closer or it might not fall into the lava.</p><p>With barely a foot of room, left Sunni lunged to the side. Pearl caught him, holding him tightly in her arms as Snapdragon forced the plate in.  The monster made a horrible noise as it was shoved into the lava.  His brother though didn’t let up.  Sunni felt this horrible pain coming from it. He clutched onto Pearl tighter.</p><p>Once it was gone Snappu blew out a puff of air.</p><p>It was over. </p><hr/><p>After they decided to have Pizza instead of that abomination of their second breakfast the five had made, Amethyst had gone out to get some.  Garnet had gone out on the balcony staring off at the ocean, Snapdragon didn’t know why but he didn’t bother her about it.</p><p>It was only the brothers and Pearl.</p><p>After defeating the monster, Sundrop had given him pack the weapon. Snapdragon still didn’t know what it was or why it had opened for Sundrop and not him.</p><p>Snapdragon handed the weapon over to Pearl, "Amethyst didn't take it or any of your stuff.  The waterfall carries them to her room.  I know because it happened to me earlier."</p><p>She took the weapon and stared down at it.  Pearl’s hand traced over the white ribbon.</p><p>Pearl sighed, "I'll have to talk to her about this later."</p><p>However, she smiled down at the weapon like it was a book you just found from your childhood.</p><p>"What is it?" Sundrop asked peeking over Snapdragon's shoulder.</p><p>Pearl didn't look away from the pink weapon, "It's a tessen, or a war fan.  They're meant to be a kind of hidden weapon. In case you lost your main one. This one was your mother's."</p><p>Snapdragon blinked.  That was odd.  His mother's weapon was a shield.  He's never heard the gems mention any kind of war fan when they spoke about her.</p><p>"I thought mom's weapon was a shield," he stated, his hand going to trace over the pink gem in his navel.</p><p>"That's your mother's gem weapon, its produced from your gem.  Your mother, however, had a sword and this tessen made.  They're physical," Pearl explained.</p><p>Slowly, she handed the weapon back to Snapdragon, "It's yours now.  To be honest I forgot I had it...she hardly used it."</p><p>"What happened to the sword?" Snapdragon pressed.</p><p>Rose wasn’t an open topic around the temple.  So, at any chance, he got to talk about her, Snapdragon took it.</p><p>"I don't know," Pearl replied.</p><p>Snapdragon stared at the weapon.  This was a part of Rose Quartz...but not like her shield.  It was like Sundrop.  It had her mark, just like his brother.  Pearl was wrong. This wasn’t his.</p><p>That's why it opened for Sundrop.</p><p>Pearl stood, going to the door, “Now I have to go talk with Garnet about a missing Gem Shard. I won’t be long.”</p><p>Snapdragon stared down at the weapon in his hands.</p><p>"Sundrop, mom's legacy is our legacy.  I have the gem, so I have the shield and powers.  You have her mark,” he pressed his finger to the boy's navel.  "You get the things marked with it."</p><p>Sundrop lifted up the shirt revealing a scar on his stomach where a belly button could be.  A rose with a spiral of thorns.</p><p>He placed the weapon in his brother’s hands.</p><p>Sundrop dropped the shirt and stared at the tessen, "Really?  I get a weapon?!"</p><p>Snapdragon grinned, "How else are you going to be a Crystal Gem."</p><p>He didn't have time for his brother throwing himself at him.  He did wrap his arms around him.  It felt good being like this.  Any feeling of emptiness was gone...now with his brother in his arms.  Snapdragon could feel whole again.  And now, he'd fell that way on the battlefield as well.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>During the middle of writing this, my charger broke, so I had to write the majority of this on my phone.  Luckily, my new one came in today, so I could finish editing it on my computer.</p><p>Thanks for the support and have an awesome day.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Episode 5: Making Friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Snapdragon discovers a new power while trying to befriend a girl, and Sundrop tries to help boy impress his dad.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW The is a mention of blood.  Nothing to serious, just Snapdragon being worried.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sunni had looked everywhere.  His room had been turned upside in search of his brand-new skirt, but it was nowhere.  He couldn't wear his normal shorts because of the damp weather outside.  So, he looked out a pair of grey skinny jeans that he normally wore in the winter, but his outfit still felt to plain for his liking.  So he was searching for a skirt he had gotten a few weeks back.  It was light blue with stars along the bottom and a couple of purple strips.</p><p>He came down from his room looking around the downstairs.  Maybe it had gotten misplaced here.  </p><p>The work shook from another earthquake.  This was like the eighth one today!</p><p>"Hey Snappy?" he called out to his brother, who sitting by the window and stared out at the beach.  "Do you know where my skirt is?  The one with the stars?"</p><p>"Did you check your chest of drawers?" he replied without looking away from the window.</p><p>"Yes, and under my bed, and behind my nightstand..." Sunni placed his hand through his hair.</p><p>Snappy only offered a hum in response.  That made Sunni raise an eyebrow.  Usually, Snappy would be right behind him cleaning up whatever mess the human brother made, but he seemed too distracted to do so.  Not many things caught his brother's attention that deeply, Sunni could only remember a few books that Snappy would be too immersed in that Sunni literally had to ripe them out of his hands.  But this wasn't the same.  No, something had done the impossible. Snappy was staring at something outside and completely focused on it.</p><p>"Is there some Gem Monster out there that needs to be defeated?" Sunni grinned grabbing his tessen off the table and slashed it through the air.</p><p>Excitement filled him at the idea of getting to fight a monster.</p><p>"What?  No," Snappy replied.  “There are the tremors, but we don’t know what could be causing them. I think there might be a missing Gem Shard. Pearl only talked about it briefly to me, but if you see it give it to her.”</p><p>Sunni placed his weapon back on the table and moved to the window as well, "Then what are you staring at? The last time I saw you this captivated was when they had that documentary how the Earth was made."</p><p>"A girl," Snappy whispered just loud enough for the brother to pick up on.</p><p>Sunni took a peek. Snappy was right.  There on the beach was a young girl sitting on a towel appearing to read some kind of book.  Even though she was facing away from them, Sunni would tell she had dark skin and she wore a teal and blue dress.  However, it was her waist-length black hair that had caught his attention.</p><p>"Do you think if I ask, she'd let me braid her hair?" Sunni asked, excitedly.</p><p>"What?  You can't just ask a stranger that!" Snappy frowned before pushing Sunni away from the window. "If you want to braid someone's hair, go ask dad or something."</p><p>"But I can't go into town without my skirt," Sunni whined.</p><p>"If you had put it in your chest of drawers like everyone else, this wouldn't be happening," Snappy placed his hand on his nose. “Why can’t you just pick another one? The one dad got you for our birthday last year would be fine.”</p><p>Sunni scrunched up his face in thought, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to get me out of the house..." A grinned took over. "You like her, don't you?”</p><p>Snappy blushed a shade of harsh pink, "Sundrop Rose Universe, if you don't leave this house right now, I will burn all your sugar."</p><p>"Snappy, you don't know where all my stashes are," Sunni smiled.  "Now, just go out there and talk to her."</p><p>They stood there staring at each other, neither backing down.  Sunni crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his socked foot on the ground.  Now, they just waited until the other would yield.  Snappy seemed to not be able to hold his own on his one, so he exhaled and turned to the door.</p><p>"If you start watching, I will throw your candy into the ocean and I won't stop until all of its gone," he glared.</p><p>Sunni shrugged, turning around, "I'm going into town anyway, my dear brother."</p><p>With that, the door slammed shut and the pink brother was off.</p><p>"Now, where did I put it?" he turned around and froze at what he saw.</p><p>It was his shirt, but it was floating above the ground like it was haunted or something.</p><p>"That's unusual!" Sunni pointed before chasing after it.  "Hey, get back here!  I thought we were friends!"</p><p>He was quick to tackle the garment to the ground and wrestle with it.  He grabbed the elastic waistband and pulled it up of his legs and onto his waist.</p><p>"That's better," he said before the garment started to shake and wither on him.  "Hey, what's gotten into you?"</p><p>He searched the pockets and founds a rock of some sort.</p><p>"What?" he inspected it.  "Are you the Gem Shard?"</p><p>The rock started to pull on his shirt, forcing him to ripe the ribbon out of his hair and wrap it around the rock until it was completely covered.  However, the ends of the bow he had tied started to smack him in the face.</p><p>"Stop it!" he yelled, using on hand to hold the rock away and the other to hold his sore cheek.</p><p>It instantly went limp.</p><p>"You...listened to me?" he frowned.  "I better get this Pearl. This could get me major brownie points with the gems!"</p><p>Excitement filled his stomach making butterflies flutter into his chest. The thought of winning the Gems back over with letting him go missions filled Sunni with joy. He now had his own weapon! Surely, he was filling out the gapes that have been there before. The reasons that once stood before him for not being able to go missions were fading away.</p><p>He placed it into his backpack along with his tessen and pulled on his yellow rain boots.  He grabbed his jacket, pulling it on and zipping it up.  With that, he threw on his backpack and went outside to the city.</p><p>His brother ran past him back into the temple. He hoped that his brother was okay, but Sunni did promise he’d go into town. Maybe Snappy just needs some time to think about what he was going to say. Time was the best thing for a person to rethink and process what to do. Besides, the look on the young girl’s face told him nothing too terrible had happened. In fact, she looked unbothered.</p><p>Snappy hadn’t even talked to her, had he?</p><p>When Sunni got back and if his brother was still hiding, he’d have to step in.</p>
<hr/><p>Snapdragon search through the freezer until his hand landed on a red glow stick bracelet.  Just what he needed.  How could the gem have forgotten about? The whole reason he was working himself up for this conversation.</p><p>He slammed the door close and stifled a shrieked when he came face to face with Amethyst.</p><p>"Whachua got there, Snaps?" she asked pointing to the bracelet he was hiding behind his back.</p><p>"Um...just returning something to someone,” he needs to think of a way to change the topic and fast.  “So, make any progress with the earthquakes."</p><p>"No, and they're too frequent to be earthquakes," Pearl replied.  “Where's your brother?  He shouldn't be out right now."</p><p>Snapdragon shrugged, "He told me he was going into town."</p><p>He was too calm. Snapdragon was being too suspicious. He could tell by the way the other were looking at him. Amethyst had an eyebrow raised. Garnet crossed her arms, staring down at him like she was trying to read him. Pearl blinked, taking a step back and pursing her lips.</p><p>“Your brother…is out with tremors that can create falling debris and crush him…and you’re okay with it?” Pearl asked.</p><p>A sudden wash of terror washed over him. Why did he let his twin go out? He should go get him. No, Sundrop was getting much better with protecting himself. Didn’t he have the war fan on him? His brother would be fine in town for a few minutes, wouldn’t he? Besides, what if he never got to see her again? What if she left and Snapdragon would bever be able to locate her again?  But what if Sundrop got trapped?  Or worse?!</p><p>Amethyst grinned, “You’re trying to hide something from us. You’re a terrible liar.”</p><p>"Um...it's a girl, that I know of, but she doesn't know me," Snapdragon relented, hoping this would be the quickest way out of the conversation.</p><p>Amethyst grinned at that, a teasing look taking over her features, "Oh, a girl~"</p><p>Pearl smiled, "Oh, we should arrange a playdate.  We’ll have to write up an invitation. What's her favorite tea?"</p><p>"I don't know," Snapdragon sighed.  "I don't know her, remember."</p><p>Garnet took a step forward, "Just talk to her, Snapdragon.”</p><p>Snapdragon nodded, trying to find that same confidence he had worked on earlier, "Okay, but please don't watch.  There's already a sixty percent chance Sunni is out there watching from behind a rock instead of being in the town."</p><p>"We won't watch," Garnet said as she adjusted her visor.</p><p>With a small smile, Snapdragon made outside and on his way towards the girl.  He could do this.  He could make a real human friend all on his own! Not a person that thought he was weird for her strange glowing body or for the gem located on his stomach. The gem hoped for her to not take in his appearance as most did.</p><p>He’d introduce himself first and keep the bracelet in his breast pocket. Once he had her name, he’d give her the bracelet and that would create a conversation. Then things could go from there.</p><p>It was genius!</p><p>When he looked up, there was a roar and the earth started to shake.  He blinked at the sight of the rocks break and fall over top of the girl. </p><p>Snapdragon did the only thing he could do.</p><p>He threw himself towards her.</p><p>"Look out!" he yelled as his arms wrapped around her.  Something warm was produced from his gem.  The rock could crush him as long as this human was fine.</p><p>He waited for the inevitable impact.</p><p>But it never came. He looked around only to see pink.  He frowned...was this a new power? It was like when the gems bubbled gems, only this time it was bigger and Snapdragon had bubble both himself and the girl. The girl!</p><p>He stood and helped her up, "Um...sorry, I'm Snapdragon."</p><p>"Connie," she said while taking in her surroundings.  "What is this?"</p><p>"I'm not sure, it's like a bubble.  But a lot bigger," Snapdragon observed.</p><p>The good news was that it seemed to have protected them from the rocks and it dulled down his natural glow.</p><p>There was a silent awkwardness between the two.</p><p>"How long does this last?" she asked.</p><p>"Oh," he raised both hands up and tried to will it away, but it didn't go away.  "I don't know."</p><p>She thought he was weird, didn’t she? He couldn’t control his powers and instead of looking cool like in Sundrop’s comics, he looked like an idiot.</p><p>"Oh," she looked down.</p><p>"But we can ask my mentors.  They should know how this works," he replied quickly, hoping to turn this relationship right around.</p><p>Snapdragon started to push the bubble back towards the temple.  Connie started to push along with him.</p><p>"So, I don't see you around here that often," Snapdragon said.</p><p>"My dad's a private security guard," Connie replied.  "He works for a bunch of different beaches, so we don't stay for that long."</p><p>Snapdragon nodded, "It must be fun getting to see a lot of cool things."</p><p>Connie shrugged, "It's not the best..."</p><p>Snapdragon didn't push it as they made their way to the house.</p><p>"Here it is," he started to push, but even with his strength, the bubble wouldn't go up the hill.   "Guys?!  Hey, Garnet!  <strong>HELP!"</strong></p><p>He instantly regretted that when he saw Connie grab her ears, "I am so sorry!  That just happened sometimes if I get too excited."</p><p>She offered him a tiny smile, "No... it’s okay...but I don't think they can hear you."</p><p>"I did tell them not to watch," he sighed.  "I guess we'll—"</p><p>He stopped himself when he remembered who wasn't in the temple. If he hadn’t shown up at the sight of a new power, then he must really be in Beach City.</p><p>"Sundrop!" he grinned.</p><p>"Who?" she asked. </p><p>"My brother," he supplied.  "His way of thinking is extremely creative. He looks at things from this weird angle.  He'll be able to figure out a way to get us out."</p><p>They started to push the bubble towards the town.</p>
<hr/><p>Sunni had a skip in his step as he walked down the boardwalk.  He jumped into a couple of puddles, smiling.  A tiny giggle escaped his lips as he played in them. Splashing around as he stuck out both of his arms and waved at some people walking around.  He grabbed onto his straps as he made his way through the town.</p><p>A scream broke his peaceful thoughts.</p><p>He screamed too when he saw a giant fry person run at him full speed.  He fell on his bottom and scooted back the best that he could. This was what happened when he devotes his life to sweets! The savory has come to sacrifice him!</p><p>"Please!  You have to help me!" the monster yelled…pleaded?</p><p>Sunni could only offer a confused head tilted before a group of seagulls started to attack the monster.</p><p>"Get away from me!  I am not fries!" the monster yelled and threw off their head...only for it to be a person in a costume.</p><p>Concern instantly filled Sunni.</p><p>He jumped up off the ground looking throw his bag, "Are you okay?  I have Band-Aids if you need one."</p><p>The boy turned and stared, like he was trying to place him, "You're...Snapdragon's brother, right?"</p><p>"Yep!  I'm Sundrop," he stuck out his hand.</p><p>He looks the offered hand, "I'm Peedee."</p><p>Sunni stared at the gathering bird, "Is it safe to be out here with them?"</p><p>"It's fine..." he shook off.  "I mean at least it isn't ninety degrees out."</p><p>Suddenly, the door to Beach City fries opened and Mr. Fryman came out.</p><p>"Gah, where’s your face, Frybo? Being part of the Fryman family means you gotta sell fries... and be my son, which you are," Mr. Fryman said. "So, you’re already halfway there. Keep at it, Frybo!"</p><p>"My name is Pee-" the door already closed.  "-dee."</p><p>Sunni frowned, "You don't want to be Frybo."</p><p>"Yes," he frowned picking up the head of the costume.  "But this is the only way to get my dad to finally let me work here, I just have to work this until he sees that I'm a valued member of Fryman Brothers Incorporated."</p><p>Sunni looked down at his backpack, "What if...you didn't have to be Frybo?"</p><p>"Unless you know someone that would love to dress up like this all day long, that isn't going to happen," Pedee sighed.</p><p>Sunni went through his bag and grabbed the ribbon, "I have something that could help you!  Just get out of the costume."</p><p>He untied the ribbon and once Peedee stepped out the conversation he placed the small rock in the costume.</p><p>"What was-" all of a sudden, the costume started to roll around.</p><p>"Stop!" Sunni said and it complied.</p><p>Peedee stared wide-eyed, "Unbelievable!  Get up!"</p><p>It hopped up staring at the two.</p><p>"Do a little dance!" Sunni grinned.</p><p>Two legs sprouted from it, made of fries.  Both boys stared in disgust.  However, the costume did start to kick out, dancing around.</p><p>Mr. Fryman appeared at the door, and Peedee was quick to hide behind Sunni, "Woah-ho, all right! It’s about ti— I mean, good job, buddy! That’s what I’m talking about, Frybo, ha ha. Keep it up!"</p><p>Once he was back in the store, Peedee jumped out from behind Sunni.</p><p>"I'm free!" Peedee grinned.  "You've got the job, Frybo.  Let's shake on it!"</p><p>Instead of grabbing the hand, Frybo instead grabbed Peedee and started to shake him.</p><p>"He's got jokes!" Sunni laughed.</p><p>"Okay!  You can put me down!" he said placing a hand onto the costume’s face.</p><p>It dropped him onto the ground.</p><p>"Just go make people eat fries," Peedee said while getting up, and the costume ran off.  "Come on!  My dad can't see me outside of the costume."</p><p>With that, he grabbed his hand.  Pulling Sunni somewhere else in Beach City.</p>
<hr/><p>They had first stopped in front o the Big Donut.  Snapdragon knew his brother loved the store.  Every day, Sundrop would come in and get himself a donut, at least he did that now that Cookie Cats were discontinued.  Before, he'd probably get one every week.  Snapdragon wasn’t too big of a fan of them, however, one could never go wrong with a classic donut every now and again.</p><p>"You sure you haven't seen him all day?" Snapdragon asked.</p><p>"I'm sorry," Sadie replied. “Sunni hasn’t been here.”</p><p>Over time, Snapdragon has found that his brother has become pretty close to the two co-workers of the Big Donut. He told Snapdragon that he considered Lars to be his best friend, but he didn’t think that the teen had received that message because he always seemed to be very rude to Sundrop. Snapdragon liked Sadie a lot more. She was kind and always tried to make conversation with him.</p><p>Plus, she was the only one helping them at the moment.</p><p>“Let me see if there is anything inside that could help,” Sadie said before turning back into the store.</p><p>Lars was being less helpful, pushing his face against the transparent bubble and making strange faces at the two children.</p><p>"Who are they?" Connie asked. </p><p>"That's Lars and Sadie, they work here.  Sundrop really likes sugar, so he comes here a lot," Snapdragon replied.</p><p>"Oh, I'm not allowed to eat donuts," Connie stated. "They have trans-fat."</p><p>Snapdragon frowned, "Really?  I mean I don't eat them that often, but a plain glaze is fine to have as a treat.”</p><p>All Connie did was give him a halfhearted shrug.</p><p>Snapdragon was never really forbidden from anything in life. Sure, he wasn’t allowed to go on missions until a few years ago, but he’s always been given a lot of freedom. He’s always been allowed to eat whatever he wanted. He’s always been allowed to go out and explore. He’s even been allowed to drive a car. It was once and his dad and Pearl freaked out about it, but Sundrop and Amethyst were having a great time.</p><p>Sadie ran out with a chair, breaking the whole thing over the bubble, but the pink bubble was left intact.</p><p>Lars laughed, "Is that your girlfriend, Snappy?"</p><p>"Why is he making weird faces?" Connie asked.</p><p>"I don't know.  My brother considers him his best friend...but I really don't see why," Snapdragon stated.</p><p>Sadie growled, "Stop it, Lars!  Your embarrassing Snapdragon!"</p><p>"No, I'm not," he looked over at his co-worker.  "I'm helping him on his date!"</p><p>The two flushed at that statement. They barely knew each other! This wasn’t a date. It was an accident.</p><p>"Do you know where he could be?" Snapdragon interrupted, now wanting to leave as soon as he could.</p><p>"Well, it's Wednesday.  And normally...doesn't he go to the docks to see dolphins?" Sadie asked.</p><p>"He does," Snapdragon agreed. "Thanks so much!"</p><p>They started to walk to the docks. Snapdragon was happy to be gone from Lars. He honestly didn’t think he was a good influence on his twin. Sundrop should try and spend more time with good influences.  Ones that weren't rude and didn't curse.</p><p>Connie’s voice interrupted his thoughts, "Your brother doesn’t seem to be the kind of person that just sits down and waits to see dolphins.”</p><p>"He loves animals," Snapdragon shrugged.  "He's always wanted a pet, but Sundrop isn't the most reliable human being on the Earth."</p><p>That caused Connie to pause in rolling the bubble, so Snapdragon had to stop too. He turned to her, not able to recognize the emotion on her face.</p><p>“If he isn’t reliable, why are we trying to find him?” she asked slowly.</p><p>That caught him off guard. If Sundrop was unreliable, why were they looking all over Beach City to find him? But Sundrop wasn’t unreliable. He’s proved himself more times the past couple weeks than Snapdragon could even think. Sundrop sees things from an angle that no one else could.</p><p>Snapdragon placed his hand on the side of the bubble, “I trust Sundrop’s judgment.”</p><p>That didn’t seem to be a lot, but Connie did start pushing along on the bubble again.</p><p>They pushed themselves done the dock. The girl next to him seemed to become focused on the boats that surrounded them.</p><p>"Woah, a trawler!  And a little skip-jack!" Connie exclaimed.</p><p>"You know a lot about boats," Snapdragon complimented, she seemed happier now.</p><p>Her voice grew softer and the smile started to fade, "That's what happens when you sit on the beach all day and don't swim...and have no friends...you look at boats.”</p><p>He upset her. Snapdragon tried to remedy it, but couldn’t think of anything that would make her feel better.</p><p>"Oh," he spotted a little boy across from them.  "Onion."</p><p>During their childhood, the two spent quite a bit of time with Onion’s family. Sundrop mostly. He was a sick child, much sicker than when he was now. If Snapdragon even left his side for a moment, Sundrop would become extremely weak. So, during colder nights the twins would stay at their place instead of the van. Over the years, the two have been able to leave each other for a much longer period of time without any serious issue. But Snapdragon always had that worry, while on a mission.</p><p>What if his brother fell in the shower and couldn’t get up? What if he was choking on his own blood? What if his brother didn’t get better and Snapdragon could only feel…numb?</p><p>He waved the little boy over. Snapdragon wanted to find his brother even sooner now.</p><p>"Onion, have you seen Sundrop?" he asked.</p><p>However, Onion appeared to not be able to hear him, he seemed to just munch on his popcorn and stare at the two trapped within the bubble.</p><p>"Um..." he breathed out on the bubble, creating a cloud on condensation on it, and drew a crude picture of the Sun and then raindrops.  "Sundrop.  Sundrop."</p><p>Onion only stared at him blankly.</p><p>Connie stepped forward, "You spell it sun drop right?"</p><p>"Yeah," he nodded. “Just like the flower.</p><p>She breathed on the bubble, making a whole new canvas, and simply wrote Sundrop with a question mark at the end.</p><p>Onion paused in thought before shaking his no.</p><p>"Great..." Snapdragon sighed.</p><p>"Maybe he has something that can break this bubble," Connie suggested.</p><p>Connie wrote down the question. </p><p>Onion nodded before running off to one of the boats and getting behind a harpoon gun attacked to it.</p><p>"Is he...?" Snapdragon trailed off.</p><p>"I think he is," Connie replied.</p><p>Onion hit the trigger, and the harpoon came barreling at them. Both screamed jumping to either side of the bubble to avoid getting a harpoon through the body. However, the bubble ricocheted off the bubble and into one of the boats.</p><p>"Oh no, the trawler!" Connie cried.</p><p>Ideas kept running through Snapdragon’s head. Maybe he had gone to see their dad. Or maybe he had gone to the woods to look for creatures in the forest.</p><p>"Maybe he's at Funland," Snapdragon suggested as they left the dock.</p><p>She however looked back towards the beach, "Maybe we should go back to your mentors..."</p><p>Snapdragon felt a blush take over his face. He could get them out of this bubble. All he need was Sundrop.</p><p>"Let's just check Funland, and if he's not there we can go back to the beach,” Snapdragon said, there was a chance that Sundrop had in fact went back home.</p><p>"Okay," she whispered.</p><p>As they started to roll though, something caught his eye. It was the Frybo costume at Beach City Fries. Peedee was normally in the costume, though, wasn’t he? However, he wasn’t acting like himself. He was being very aggressive towards anyone that passed by him, and when he grabbed someone by the shoulders and threw them in, Snapdragon acted.</p><p>"Peedee what’s wrong with you?" Snapdragon asked.</p><p>The costume turned, weird veins appeared in the costume, something he that wasn’t there the last time Snapdragon had seen the costume.</p><p>"Uh, Peedee?” he asked as the costume raised a hand.</p><p>A tentacle like arm came out and hit the bubble with a lot of force.  It was inhuman. The two didn’t have a chance to do anything but scream as they were launched into the air and fell into the ocean.</p>
<hr/><p>Sunni pulled off a piece of cotton candy, still looking around susptiously.</p><p>“We haven’t seen Mr. Smiley at all,” he bit into the sugar. “I am pretty sure he has it out for me.”</p><p>When he looked over at the other boy, he didn’t appear to be listening to him. Instead he looked off, staring blankly ahead of them.</p><p>"So, we just spent an hour on the quarter rides, and you still look upset," Sunni said holding out his cotton candy. </p><p>Peedee frowned, "No, it's just that...would I still deserve a part in family business with that thing doing my job instead?"</p><p>Sunni stared at the other boy, "Mr. Fryman wasn't giving you a chance."</p><p>"Sundrop, you don't get it.  This is taking the easy way out.  With a job, you have to sacrifice things,” he sighed.  “You'll understand one when you get a real job."</p><p>"I do have a real job," Sunni corrected. "I help the earth and protect it."</p><p>"Sundrop, I've heard your dad talk to my dad," Peedee replied.  "You physically can't do that kind of stuff.  Your body fights against you."</p><p>Sunni found himself staring at the colorful sugar, “That’s not true.”</p><p>"People are going to be nice to you and make things easy," Peedee continued.  "I don't need someone doing that to me."</p><p>Sunni frowned, feeling a slight pain within his chest.  That wasn’t true people didn’t make things easy for him…did they? But the Gems never let him go on missions, but they let him go along with Snappy when he tried to summon his weapon. Were they really only being nice to him? Snapdragon went into the storage unit and dad agreed. The mission…he had to talk them into it…And Snappy went into the Temple without him.</p><p>No…he could still prove to them that he could be a member of the Crystal Gems!</p><p>Before he could even defend himself screams in the distance.</p><p>"That came from the fry shop," Peedee’s eyes widened as they both turned in the direction and ran towards it.</p><p>The streets were bare, but there was a commotion coming from with the shop. They went up to the window and peeked over just to see what was happening within there. They both stared in shock as at the sight of Frybo literally forcing fries down people’s throats.</p><p>"We didn't tell him to do that!  Did we tell him to do that?!" Peedee whisper shouted at Sunni.</p><p>Frybo threw one of the tables out the window, forcing Peedee and Sunni to duck down.</p><p>"Frybo stop!" Sunni yelled out hoping for it to listen like before.</p><p>The costume, however, only turned to them.  And suddenly, it picked up Lars and threw him at them.  The two ducked again and Lars hit the table. </p><p>The teen got up and ran off, spitting up the fries, “I don’t even like fries!”</p><p>"Why isn't he listening?" Peedee asked Sunni, but the kid didn’t know.</p><p>Mr. Fryman entered the shop, confused at the way he thought was his son was attacking.</p><p>"Where’s all this coming from?!” Frybo insnared the man with a tendril. "Ah, I get it, I pushed you too hard! I thought you wanted to be as good a Fryman as you could be! You’re a tough kid for putting up with it as long as you did! The truth is, you’re a valued member of Fryman Brothers Incorporated and all its affiliates!"</p><p>Frybo started to stuff fries down his mouth.</p><p>"Dad!" Peedee tried to jump up but was stopped when Sunni grabbed him.</p><p>"No, he'll mash your potatoes!" he exclaimed before getting up.</p><p>"What are you going to do?" Peedee asked.</p><p>Sunni turned smiling, "My job."</p><p>But before he could get in Mr. Fryman was thrown at them, landing on top of the two children.</p><p>Before Frybo could get too close to them, another one of those earthquakes appeared forcing the costume to fall down. It gave them enough time to roll the unconsious man off of them.</p><p>“Sundrop?” Peedee asked, cradling his dad’s head in his arms.</p><p>Sunni stripped his backpack off of his back and grabbed his tessen from where it was sticking out. He opened it, turning to the store. He was going to need to get an advantage point that the costume didn’t have. Mascot costumes, they couldn’t look up. They didn’t have necks!</p><p>“Get out of here, Peedee” Sunni turned, offering a smile. “This is my mess and I’ve got to clean int up.”</p><p>With that he started to climb the building. The costume wouldn’t be able to see him from up here. Then, all Sunni had to do was wait for the possess costume to come out. He’d have to pin it down in order to get the shard out.</p><p>Frybo broke down the door and exited the building.</p><p>Sunni needed to climb fast!</p><p>In the corner of his eye, he saw Peedee grab a board and swing it around, trying to hold back Frybo.</p><p>“Get away. I hate you! I’ve always hated you!” he yelled.</p><p>Mr. Fryman must have started to become consious than because Sunni head him speak next, “Peedee? You hate Frybo?”</p><p>The costume hit the board out of his hands forcing him to fall back into his dad. Frybo was advancing on them.</p><p>And Sunni was at the top!</p><p>He made sure to jump off in the right place, landing right on the costume. He drove his tessen into the costumes face. Ketchup squirted from its face onto Sunni. He made sure to keep his weight in the center of the Frybo costume, keeping it pinned in place. He kept the tessen pinned with his right hand and dug into the mouth with his left. It was filled with cheese, and the child knew this was going to haunt his nightmares for a very long time.</p><p>Once his hand felt the shard, he ripped it out. His breathing became labored as he felt all this extra energy leave him. </p><p>He turned his head, seeing the two Fryman’s just stare at him. Embarassment flushed over him as neither said anything.</p><p>He grabbed his backpack and ripped his weapon out of the costume.</p><p>“I’m sorry about all this um…better get going…” with that he ran off, going to do what he should have done before and give the shard to Pearl.</p>
<hr/><p>Snapdragon couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked around him. They were really in the bottom of the ocean. He really just brought the person he wanted to befriend to the bottom of the ocean. Was there anyway to fix this?</p><p>Connie looked around in shock, "Where are we?"</p><p>Snapdragon sighed, there was no hiding this, "The bottom of the ocean."</p><p>Connie gasped a look of horror taking over her features, "Are we even close to shore?"</p><p>"Yeah?" Snapdragon said unsurely.</p><p>He wanted this nightmare to be over. This was all a mistake. He shouldn’t have listened to Garnet and Sundrop. Snapdragon should have just stayed in the house and just watched her instead.</p><p>"Let's just start rolling," she said.</p><p>Snapdragon was defeated, "When you get back to the shore, we'll try with the gems again."</p><p>"Yeah," she mumbled before her eyes landed on something.</p><p>In front of them was a giant wormlike monster.</p><p>Snapdragon held in his breath as the monster got closer to them. However, it went right passed them and ate some red glowing grass instead of the.</p><p>"It's okay," Snapdragon sighed in relief.  "It only eats bright stuff."</p><p>Even more relief filled him because the bubble deluded Snapdragon’s natural glow.</p><p>They just watched as the monster ate, waiting for it to leave before they started to move again. But, whenever the ocean monster finished, it dug itself into the ground, forcing their bubble much farther into the ocean.</p><p>The gem blinked as he looked up. That hurt.</p><p>"Uh," Snapdragon frowned as he landed on his back, and he quickly moved his foot when he saw it hand landed on her face.  "Sorry, sorry.  We can still get out.  Sundrop will go home and not see me and tell the gems and everything will be okay—"</p><p>"Everything is NOT OKAY!" Connie yelled at him all of a sudden.  </p><p>Snapdragon found himself not able to speak. His voice died out before it could leave his mouth. Over the years, he’s been able to learn how to deal with his brother’s emotions, but other people were so foreign to him. Every single person was too different, that each one reacts so differently to some new event.</p><p>“Now, we’re going to suffocate and die down here and only my parents will know because no one cares about me,” she cried into her hands. “I’m going to die down here without making a single friend…”</p><p>And suddenly, it hit Snapdragon. He grabbed the bracelet from his pocket, holding out it out to her.</p><p>“I saw you drop this last year. You were at the Boardwalk Parade. I picked it up, but I couldn’t find you,” he said. “I kept it in my freezer, just until I could find you.”</p><p>“Oh, you were one of the kids in the carwash float,” she said and giggled. “You had soap bubbles in your hair.”</p><p>Snapdragon laughed, “Yeah, I was meant to be a scrub brush.”</p><p>He placed it on her wrist, “I’m sorry, if I had given it to your back then this wouldn’t have happened. And you would have seen than just how much of a freak I am.”</p><p>“No,” Connie shook her head. “You’re not a freak…this has been fun.”</p><p>Snapdragon felt a smile form on his face, “Can we be friends?”</p><p>“Of course,” she smiled back.</p><p>And just like that the bubble popped.</p><p>Snapdragon was quick to grab the girl’s arm and pulled her towards the surface with him. Once they surfaced the two coughed but they both started to laugh. She didn’t even give his glowing or pink complexion a second glance.</p><p>Before either could really celebrate, the worm monster emerged from the water roaring at them. Both children swam to the ocean, but the monster was quick to follow after the two children.</p><p>An attack missed Snapdragon by an inch.</p><p>“It only eats glowing stuff…” Snapdragon remembered. “And of course, I GLOW!”</p><p>“Snapdragon!” Connie called out.</p><p>Suddenly, the monster started to chase after her. Snapdragon ran to her, trying to take its attention off of her, but it seemed distracted by something. What—the bracelet!</p><p>“Connie! I need the bracelet!” he said.</p><p>“What?!” she yelled.</p><p>“Please,” he pleaded.</p><p>She handed to him and Snapdragon pushed her towards a pile of rock, so she’d be safe.</p><p>Now with both sources of glowing things, Snapdragon made sure to keep the attention on him. He ran under the boardwalk. The gem dodged the monster and twisted himself around the body, until the gem monster was stuck in all of the pillars. It struggled to get free, but all it succeeded in was breaking the dock, forcing it to poof.</p><p>The gems appeared. Probably summoned by the huge crash that the monster created. Garnet was quick to bubble the gem and send it off to the temple.</p><p>“Snapdragon what happened here?!” Pearl asked, quickly making her way towards the young gem.</p><p>“He was incredible!” Connie yelled.</p><p>“Really?” Snapdragon found pride growing in his chest.</p><p>She nodded to him.</p><p>“So, Snaps,” Amethyst grinned, completely ruining the moment. “You going to introduce us?”</p><p>“Oh, Snapdragon was very excited to meet you,” Pearl smiled.</p><p>A glowing blush covered his face. He wanted to go back home now. Go back into the safety of the couch.</p><p>“Guys…” he said, trying to some how tell them to stop as embarrassment beat out the pride.</p><p>Luckily, a familiar voice caught their attention.</p><p>“There you are!” the voice called out.</p><p>“Sundrop—” Pearl didn’t get any farther as he made his way towards her and dropped the Gem Shard into her hands.</p><p>Concern filled the gem brother as he took in his brother being covered in, what he could only assume was food.</p><p>Before anyone could ask, he turned on his heels and called back, “I’ll be at the temple.”</p><p>Snapdragon wasn’t expecting the knock at the door a few hours later. He had been sitting on the couch leaning over Sundrop’s shoulder at the video of a little dog cuddling a cat. His hair was still wet from his shower, water droplets fell from onto his shoulders. He wore his bee pajamas and his stuffed cat was hugged to his chest.</p><p>Not wanting to disturb his brother, he got up and answered it.</p><p>“Hello,” he said as he opened the door.</p><p>It was pretty late, and hardly anyone came on this side of the beach.</p><p>Peedee stood outside the door, he held out a familiar blue ribbon, “Your brother left this. Is he here?”</p><p>This was confusing. Had his brother been at the fry shop all day? Suddenly it hit him. The costume…the Gem Shard...his brother covered in food. Sundrop had used the Gem Shard. Snapdragon couldn’t find it in himself to be anger though. Had anyone even told him the dangers of the Gem Shard. All Snapdragon remembered doing was telling him to give it to Pearl.</p><p>“Yes,” he nodded “Is everything alright?”</p><p>“Everything is great!” Peedee smiled. “I wanted to thank him if that’s alright.”</p><p>Did Sundrop manage to actually fight a war soldier without any of the gems help?</p><p>“Sundrop,” Snapdragon turned his head. “You have a visitor.”</p><p>“Really?” the boy walked over, and a strange look took over his brother’s face. “Oh, hi.”</p><p>An awkward silence took over the two humans as they both stared at the only gem in the house.</p><p>“Snappy, can we—” Sundrop started.</p><p>“Oh, of course,” Snapdragon stepped back into the house.</p><p>But he still listened in on the two’s conversation.</p><p>“I just wanted to thank you for earlier,” he said.</p><p>“Really?” Sundrop thumbling with his thumbs. “I destroyed Frybo.”</p><p>“I’ve always hated that stupid costume,” he replied. “Besides, I finally got to talk to my dad about it. I’m getting to run the cash register instead!”</p><p>Sundrop frown turned into a supportive smile, “That awesome!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Peedee returned the smile. “You should come over sometime, Sundrop.”</p><p>“You can call me Sunni,” he corrected. “Most do.”</p><p>“Okay,” Peedee said before smiling. “See you later, Sunni.”</p><p>“Bye,” Sundrop called out to him, clutching the ribbon to his chest. Watching as the boy made his way back around the mountain.</p><p>“Ah yes,” Snapdragon settled a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “The sweet scent of revenge.”</p><p>“What? I don’t like him,” he blushed. “It’s nice talking to another person my age that doesn’t happen to be my brother.”</p><p>Snapdragon rolled his eyes, “You can’t hide that kind of stuff from me.”</p><p>“Shush you,” Sundrop placed a hand on his face and pushed him away, while Snapdragon laughed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Peedee is a great compliment to Sundrop, and I really want to give him a bigger part than what he had it the show.</p><p>In my mind, I always thought that Frybo and Bubble Buddies could be interchangeable episodes if you wanted a Connie/Peedee swap, so I thought why not add them together into one big episode!  </p><p>This is the longest chapter and next weeks is going to be a lot shorter, but it's going to have a pretty big impact on a few characters. :3</p><p>Thanks for reading!  I'm really enjoying this story and I'm hoping to make a sort of deleted scenes story with parts that I took out or original ideas that went in a completely different direction like last week's episode.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Episode 6: Hidden Within Him</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>While trying the learn to shapeshift, something odd happens to Snapdragon.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Snapdragon found himself a nice spot near the car wash, it provided him a nice bit of shade and a clear view of his brother and father. It was the perfect place to read his book on human body systems! The gem has always found them fascinating, ever since he was a much younger child. His brother had a big part to play in that. Snapdragon wanted to learn everything he could, so he could make Sundrop’s life as easy as possible. Now, it’s become a fascination of his.</p>
<p>On the tougher nights, Snapdragon would read to Sundrop.  Back then, the others thought that Snapdragon needed to sleep, so the two would share a bed.  Snapdragon would just read in bed with his brother cuddled into his side.  If things got really bad, Snapdragon would just read aloud instead of in his head.  After a while, his brother would be lulled into a much more peaceful sleep.</p>
<p>He hummed at his memories as he read his book, but a noise made him look up.</p>
<p>Snapdragon had to stifle a chuckle when Sundrop sprayed the mayor with the hose. Their father was quick to stop Sundrop, but Snapdragon doubted the mayor would be anger at him.  No one could stay anger at Sundrop.</p>
<p>But before he could go back to his book, a purple tail caught his eye.</p>
<p>It was a cat.  A cat with purple fur and purple gem coming from their chest.</p>
<p>The pink gem just turned a page, “Hi Amethyst.”</p>
<p>She turned her head towards him, a frown planted on her face, “Aw what! How are you able to tell?”</p>
<p>Snapdragon pointed, “I can see your gem.”</p>
<p>Amethyst gave a huff before jumping down from the curb, “You just lack imagination.”</p>
<p>He didn’t argue, “That’s Sundrop’s department.”</p>
<p>Her grin returned when she saw the two other Universes in front of them, “Oh, this is perfect…”</p>
<p>That didn't sound good.  Snapdragon looked up but didn't see Amethyst anywhere.  He looked back down, finding where he had left off.  However, Greg Universe’s scream pulled his attention away from his book.</p>
<p>“What is with this cat?!”</p>
<p>An exasperated sigh came from the pink gem when he saw just what was happening. Amethyst had gotten ahold of the hose and was chasing them around. Greg was freaking out, but Sundrop seemed to be having the time of his life.  He clutched his book and made his way towards them.</p>
<p>After getting the two sufficiently soaked, Amethyst turned back into her normal form.</p>
<p>“Ha, got ya,” Amethyst grinned.</p>
<p>Sundrop had stars sparkle in his maroon eyes as he looked her, “That was so cool!”</p>
<p>Greg looked away awkwardly, “Yeah, that was pretty cool…”</p>
<p>A feeling of awkwardness filled Snapdragon as he saw just how freaked his dad was.  Greg was never too good with gem things.  That always made Snapdragon feel weird.  He was a gem.  Snapdragon wasn't normal.  He glowed.  He was pink.  He could lift the van up over his head with ease.  Maybe over the years, Greg's gotten used to Snapdragon, but there was always going to be that strain.</p>
<p>“We’ll be back in a moment,” Snapdragon stated and grabbed his brother's forearm. “Sundrop should get some fresh clothing.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure he has a spare set of clothing in the van,” Greg said.</p>
<p>“No, it's okay,” Snapdragon replied, giving their father a small, but strained smile. “It’ll only take a few moments.”</p>
<p>He felt his brother struggle against him.  Snapdragon couldn't let go. His fist closed tighter against the arm, trying to keep a steady grip on it. Contact was a good thing for them.  It was a mutual relationship.  Touching Sundrop always made things easier to fell emotionally.</p>
<p>Sometimes, things got too weird around Greg. He didn’t like getting involved in gem business, and Snapdragon was a gem. Things were easier when the gem was younger, he lived in sweet ignorance. He didn’t know that he was different from other beings. Once upon a time, Snapdragon thought that he was human. However, one day everything changed. No other human beings were glowing or pink or hand a rock where a belly button would be. He became aware of everything. There had been a point in Snapdragon’s life that he grew jealous of his brother.</p>
<p>It was horrible. Back then his brother could have easily died. He was weak.  If the twins were too far apart, Sundrop would get even sicker. The gems had brought them their mother’s tears in order to help and they did for a while. His brother’s life was far any normal one, but his was much more ordinary than Snapdragons.  He got to have a life where their dad never looked at him like he was something…so different. Not human.</p>
<p>“Snapdragon,” a tough jerk hit brought his attention to the boy he was grabbing on to. “You're hurting my arm!”</p>
<p>It was then that he realized just how hard he was grabbing his brother’s arm. His fingers had started to go white just from the pressure. He could feel his brothers humorous through the flesh and blood. His hand released the limb instantly.</p>
<p>“Sorry!” he yelled.</p>
<p>Snapdragon went to touch his brother’s shoulder but was quick to retreat his hand, not wanting to hurt Sundrop anymore. It would be so easy to harm his brother. Snap a bone…break the skin…his brother was so fragile.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Sundrop smiled, rubbing at the placed where Snapdragon had been holding his arm before. “I’ve gone through a lot worse.”</p>
<p>That didn’t make him feel any better at all. Instead, he felt worse for adding to the pains that Sundrop had gone through.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to break,” Sundrop tried, he pulled done his sleeve up and his detachable sleeve done. “See there isn’t even a bruise.”</p>
<p>Slowly, Snapdragon let his fingers drift over the skin. All he felt was smooth, soft skin on the tips of his fingers.</p>
<p>Before the other could pull away, Sundrop eased his hand into his brothers, “Dad doesn’t mean to come off like that.”</p>
<p>The pink brother sighed, “I know. But he’s never going to look at me the same way he looks at you.”</p>
<p>“Please, dad treats me like I’m made of glass,” Sundrop brushed some hair out of Snapdragon's eyes. “Besides, you have so many others that don't care about how you look.  The gems, that girl..."</p>
<p>His brother stepped closer to him, placing his free hand on top of his shoulder.</p>
<p>“And you’re going to have me no matter what,” Sundrop squeezed it. “Now come on, let’s get to the Temple.”</p>
<p>Their hands were joined as they made their way through Beach City. They made talked and giggled and pointed as they made through the town back to their home. However, Snapdragon stopped when he felt a slight tug on his arm.</p>
<p>He turned to his brother and followed where his brother gaze.</p>
<p>A house.</p>
<p>But there was nothing out of the ordinary, other than a for sale sign on the front lawn.</p>
<p>"What's wrong?" he asked, as his brother continued to stare.</p>
<p>Sundrop squeezed his brother’s hand, “When did the Sanders move?”</p>
<p>Snapdragon tried to place the name, “Wasn’t that the couple who gave you cookies all the time?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Sundrop nodded. “I saw them a couple of days ago…maybe there still home!”</p>
<p>Sometimes, Sundrop could get too attached to people.  It wasn't a bad thing, but it made things like this hard.  Snapdragon knew his brother cared for many, but it still made things difficult when stuff like this happened.  Humans were meant to leave and go on with their lives.  It was natural.</p>
<p>But another fact about humans was that they were stubborn and didn't go without answers.</p>
<p>Sundrop was quick to run over to the house, pulling his brother behind. Snapdragon went along willing, not seeing a problem at the moment.</p>
<p>He knocked a couple of times and waited.</p>
<p>When no one answered, Snapdragon sighed, “I guess they did move.”</p>
<p>He jumped off the porch, reaching his hand out for his brother to take.</p>
<p>Sundrop, however, grabbed the nob and opened the door easily, “It’s open~”</p>
<p>“No, we aren’t breaking and entering!” Snapdragon whisper-shouted.</p>
<p>“It’s not breaking and entering if the doors unlocked,” Sundrop grinned as he made his in the house.</p>
<p>“Sundrop!” Snapdragon yelled as he made his way into the house too. “That’s is not how the law works!”</p>
<p>The place was completely empty and clean.  The discolored white walls showed that photos once hung on the walls.  There were scuffs on the wooden floor from furniture being moved.  No one was here.</p>
<p>“Sundrop, let’s leave before we really get in trouble,” Snapdragon went to grab the others hand, but he moved away.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t this seem suspicious to you?” Sundrop asked and he looked throughout the house. “There has to be something in here to tell us something about what happened.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon sighed, “They probably moved because of all this gem danger that’s been happening. Not many people come here unless it’s tourist season. It makes sense that some people would start to leave.”</p>
<p>His brother peeked his face out of one of the doors he had been searching through, “I guess so…I would have liked to say goodbye.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon stepped forward, "I'm sure—"</p>
<p>“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” a voice yelled at them.</p>
<p>Both brothers screamed. Sundrop ran and leaped on his brother’s back, Snapdragon had to take a few steps back in order to support the new weight on his back.  They needed a distraction!  So, Snapdragon did the only thing that he could.  He chucked his book as far as he could in the direction the voice came from.</p>
<p>“Haha! I got you that time,” a tall male laughed and shapeshift back into Amethyst.</p>
<p>Snapdragon blushed, “Did you follow us?”</p>
<p>“Yep, your dad was being all weird,” she rolled her eyes but grinned at the two. “I didn’t know you too were into breaking and entering.”</p>
<p>“We aren’t,” Snapdragon sighed.</p>
<p>A squeal of excitement from Sundrop made them turn towards him, “Shapeshifting is so cool! I wish I could."</p>
<p>Just like putting something jingling in front a baby, Sundrop put his full attention on this instead.</p>
<p>Amethyst shrugged, but the smile on her face showed that she was happy from the praise, “I don’t know about you, Sunshine, but your brother can.”</p>
<p>That caught Snapdragon off guard, “Wait? Really?”</p>
<p>She stepped over towards him, pulling up his shirt to reveal his gem, “You’ve got a gem, so I don’t see why you can't.”</p>
<p>There were so many different things that Snapdragon didn’t know about his heritage. He wished he could just sit down and talk to the gems about it, but the Crystal Gems were busy protecting the world that they didn’t have the time for this. So, Snapdragon just had to let each detail come to the surface on its own.</p>
<p>Sundrop's smile grew, “Can you teach him?”</p>
<p>Amethyst nodded, “Of course I can.”</p>
<p>She went over and sat on an empty spot on the floor and his twin jumped off his back and rushed to sit by her.</p>
<p>Why weren't they leaving?  Shouldn't they be leaving if they were doing gem stuff?</p>
<p>“We’re doing this here?” Snapdragon raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>He got a nod, “Yep, there’s plenty of room to work with and you won’t have to worry about Pearl coming in and lecturing you about it and making this no fun.”</p>
<p>“We are so getting arrested,” Snapdragon sat crisscross across from her.</p>
<p>“Please, have you seen an actual police officer here, ever?” Amethyst asked.</p>
<p>Snapdragon didn’t answer that.</p>
<p>“Okay,” she started. “When you shapeshift, you can basically do whatever you want with it. Change your body up, turn into anything else, and whatever. So the first thing you should think about is what you want to do.”</p>
<p>“DO A TIGER!” Sundrop buzzed around.</p>
<p>Amethyst frowned, “Probably something a little bit smaller. This stuff can make you pretty tired if you do too much.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon placed a hand on his chin, his thoughts went to earlier, “What about a cat?”</p>
<p>“Perfect,” Amethyst stood. “Now, you have to envision what you want to become, keep it in your mind. Then, you just got to shake it out.”</p>
<p>Her gem started to glow and her body glowed slightly. Amethyst’s normal form started to shrink until it became just like the cat she had turned into before.</p>
<p>“Nothing to it,” she shrugged and jumped up onto Sundrop’s lap. “Now your turn.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon nodded, he closed his eyes hoping to forget about the four eyes that were looking at him as he tried to change into a cat. However, it didn’t seem to work. He scrunched up his nose, trying to will his body to change its shape.</p>
<p>“You are way too tense,” Amethyst shook her head. “You have to relax, Snaps. Just shake it out and it will happen.”</p>
<p>He closed his eyes again. This time taking a deep inhale in and stretching his arms out. He envisioned a cat. Just relax. He exhaled. He felt warmth come from his gem. That was a good sign. The warmth started to spread across his body.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, something felt off. Suddenly, it was like Snapdragon wasn’t in control of his body. Instead of getting smaller, it felt like he was getting bigger. He tried to struggle against it, but in the end, everything just went dark. </p>
<hr/>
<p>Sunni felt goosebumps form on his arm.  His brother was glowing much more than normal.  A normal comparison would be to a glowstick, but now it was like a car's headlights and was getting stronger.  The clothing that he normally wore fell to the ground as the light became higher.  </p>
<p>"Snappy, you can stop now!" Sunni called out to his brother, but he didn't reply to him.  The only thing that responded to him was this noise...strange and odd, but familiar.  The boy couldn't place it.</p>
<p>Amethyst pushed him back, keeping him right behind her. He saw her gem glowing, ready to pull out her weapon, but she kept it within there. Just a precaution.</p>
<p>His gem rotated to a different angle, making a triangle shape.  The light seemed to want to take a form, a large one, but couldn't, so the light stayed at a shapeless blob.</p>
<p>The light grew to the point that Sunni found it impossible to look at, like the sun.  His hand came up and shielded himself from the oncoming shine.</p>
<p>“Is this normal?!” he asked, over the noise.</p>
<p>“Not when shapeshifting!” Amethyst yelled back to him.</p>
<p>The light dulled down a tad and started to shrink to about half the size. Still remaining a blob, but the gem shifted back into its normal placement.  Once again, the gem tried to take some form, but couldn't decide.</p>
<p>Something wasn't right about this!  Gems didn't do this.  His brother's never done this before.  Not when summoning his shield, not when he bubbled.  What was different?</p>
<p>The light got even smaller, dimmed to an even glow. This time it found a form that was the size of Snapdragon…but it wasn’t him. There was a bow in his hair, hands covered by detachable sleeves, instead of ringlets the hair was wavy curls.  Sundrop wasn't looking at his brother.  He was looking at himself!</p>
<p>Sundrop reached out, "Snappy?"</p>
<p>The shape morphed.  Hair turned into ringlets.  Bow disappeared.  Hands were revealed.</p>
<p>Snapdragon fell to the ground, all the light that had been around him went back to his dim glow.  With his shirts, shoes, and socks gone, you could see the normal clothing he wore.  A type of pink pants that went all the way down his feet and a pinks top with a star cut out to reveal his gem.  His hands went down and grabbed at the gem, holding it.</p>
<p>In an instant Sunni was at his brother’s side.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Sunni was quick. “Are you okay?”</p>
<p>He nodded, grabbing his gem, “What? What was that?”</p>
<p>Amethyst and Sunni shared a look.</p>
<p>“You were trying to get bigger,” Amethyst said. “You probably couldn’t get a form.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, you were just a ball of light for a moment,” Sunni nodded, hating this lie of omission.</p>
<p>Snapdragon's grip on his gem tightened.</p>
<p>“Hey, man,” Amethyst went next to him. “You okay?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s like there’s this noise coming from my gem…I can’t really…explain it.”</p>
<p>“Why don’t we go home—” it was then that his brother lifted his face. “Your face.”</p>
<p>“What?” Snappy asked.</p>
<p>Across his brother’s face, were dark pink freckles in the shape of stars.</p>
<p>“Freckles,” he replied. “You have star-shaped freckles.”</p>
<p>The boy reached up and touched his cheek. His hand tracing over them.</p>
<p>Sunni felt something hit him in the stomach.  Snapdragon didn't have freckles before, Sunni did though.  Was it a coincidence that his brother just happened to get some after he shapeshifted into Sunni?</p>
<p>Before either brother could continue to question, the purple gem grabbed the two and pulled the two out of the house. His brother had to hurry and collect his clothing.</p>
<p>Sunni kept risking glances at his brother. </p>
<p>They were twins. That’s had similar features. The only reason his brother had a pink hue was because he had Rose Quartz’s gem. Was there something going on with the gem?</p>
<p>The light, the forms, the freckles...something was up.  </p>
<p>The walk was silent.</p>
<p>Sunni was too into his thoughts to talk.</p>
<p>At the temple, Sundrop changed out his still clothing into a new set of identical clothing. He found himself staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. His own hand tracing over his freckles. He found himself starting to pull on the bangs in front of his right eye, but his hand dropped with a sigh. </p>
<p>He grabbed KitKat and held him close to his chest before setting himself down next to his brother on the couch. Snappy had put his clothes back on.  His eyes kept wandering over to his brother’s face. He shapeshifted them freckles. That was it. Sundrop kept telling himself that and ignored the part of him telling that it had some deeper meaning.</p>
<p>The Temple door opening made him turn his head in the other direction.</p>
<p>Garnet and Pearl exited the Temple door.</p>
<p>Pearl smiled, clasping her hands together when she saw them, “We have a mission.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Snappy had started to make his way to the warp pad, but Pearl settled her hand on his shoulder.</p>
<p>“We’re going to have to take the Gem Sloop,” Pearl replied. “There's going to be no warp pad there.”</p>
<p>Sunni tilted his head in curiosity, “What’s going on?”</p>
<p>Normally, everywhere they needed to go had a warp pad.</p>
<p>“It’s a tectonic emergency,” Garnet stated.</p>
<p>That left Sunni just as confused.</p>
<p>“We have to fight an island before any damage could be done to the surrounding land,” Pearl replied.</p>
<p>“Can I come?” Sunni asked, clasping his hands.</p>
<p>Fighting a living island would be awesome!</p>
<p>“Um…” Pearl frowned. “You’re doing great Sundrop. But this mission could get really dangerous, and you still aren’t properly trained in combat.”</p>
<p>Sunni sighed, looking down at the ground. His grip on his stuffed cat grew a little tighter. Another night all by himself at home. Maybe he could go the car wash later and talk to dad.</p>
<p>Garnet settled one of her hands on top of his head, causing Sunni to look up her.</p>
<p>“You can come on our next mission,” she stated, adjusting her visor with her free hand.</p>
<p>His smile came back, “Okay.”</p>
<p>Snappy, Pearl, and Garnet all exited the house, but Amethyst stayed behind for a moment.</p>
<p>“Sundrop,” she started.</p>
<p>His whole name. Amethyst wasn’t one to use it that often, only when she was being serious, which wasn't often.</p>
<p>“You can’t tell anyone what you just saw,” she stated walking up to him.</p>
<p>“But,” Sunni looked down. “This isn’t something we should keep a secret. Snappy hardly understood his powers, what if this can help—"</p>
<p>“No!” Amethyst stopped him. “What happened to your brother wasn’t normal? If anyone questions anything on the boat, I’ll make up something. But you can’t tell anyone else. Not Garnet or Pearl or Greg, and especially not Snapdragon.”</p>
<p>“Amethyst, I can’t just lie to him,” Sundrop blinked up to meet her gaze.</p>
<p>“Sundrop,” her hand settled on his shoulder. “Promise me, you won’t tell anyone about what happened.”</p>
<p>Sunni has never lied to his brother once. It’s always felt wrong and made him feel dirty if he thought about it. It wasn’t a good thing to do. Wouldn’t his brother want to know what just happened to him, though? But…what if he hurt Snapdragon by telling him? What if telling him would do something to his powers? What if it broke their bond?</p>
<p>One time.</p>
<p>Sundrop would never do it again.</p>
<p>“I promise.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Were you expecting this?  This story isn't going to be a copy and paste of the original show.  I want to add in my own elements into the story.  Besides, Cat Fingers freaked me out when I first saw it and I don't want to relive that and I didn't want to make things that easy on the characters.</p>
<p>Oh, if anyone has any suggestions for an instrument for Snaps, please tell me in the comments.  I already got one for Sunni, no spoilers.  You'll have to wait until next week.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the support!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Episode 7: Capable</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sunni is preparing for his first serious mission, but did he know what he was getting into?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today was going to be the day.  Today Sundrop was going on an actual gem mission that was going to be serious and dangerous.  Today Snapdragon was going to have to force himself to calm down and relax.  Because he knew his brother was completely capable of this.  He knew he was going to need to loosen the reins he had on his brother.  If Sundrop really wanted to become a Crystal Gem, Snapdragon was going to have to let go at some point.</p><p>Sundrop was pulling his sleeves as he ran down the stairs and grabbed a toaster waffle that he must have already made.</p><p>Snapdragon stood by the warp pad, holding his brother’s backpack out to him as Sundrop stuffed a toaster waffle in his mouth and jumped onto the warp. Last night, both Snapdragon and Pearl worked on filling his backpack with emergency things he might need for the mission. Snapdragon knew his brother was excited about this. After all, this was going to be his first serious mission.</p><p>“The gems are still getting ready,” Snapdragon stated to his brother, who started looking around as if it was just then that he realized he was the only one up here.</p><p>“Then, why were you standing by it?” Sundrop frowned, jumping off the warp pad and back going over to the kitchen, most likely to get another toaster waffle.</p><p>Snapdragon shrugged, “To give you your backpack.”</p><p>Sundrop looked like he was going to argue the topic, but stopped and grabbed the maple syrup.</p><p>“So, how are you feeling?” Sundrop asked, retrieving a box of waffles.</p><p>Snapdragon paused, not expecting that, “Normal?”</p><p>Sundrop inspected his brother, “Like has your gem been acting up or anything?”</p><p>That got a raise of an eyebrow, “Not that I know of…what’s bringing this on?”</p><p>His brother shrugged off, “…Just curious…So, what’s up with today’s mission? Are you going to fight a bunch of radioactive mutant PANDAS!?”</p><p>He chuckled, but made a note of the topic change, “No, it’s a retrieval mission from what Pearl’s told me. But the place we’re searching is filled with traps, so you should get your excitement for the day.”</p><p>“Really? Because the last time we did something even remotely exciting you freaked out,” Sundrop raised an eyebrow.</p><p>The gem found himself remembering that day. Jumping around the town, holding his brother close to his chest with too many noises surrounding the two. The only thing going through Snapdragon’s head was that he needed to get his twin away from everything.</p><p>Snapdragon felt his face flush, “That was an accident…besides you were the one that freaked.”</p><p>His brother turned, glaring with a waffled stuffed into his mouth. The bottle of maple syrup that had been in his hands aimed up to start being poured into his mouth.</p><p>However, Sundrop wasn’t able to come up with some sort of comeback as the gems appeared from the temple. </p><p>“Sundrop,” Pearl sighed as she made her way over and started to clean his face with a rag she had produced from her gem. “You’re getting crumbs all over your face.”</p><p>The human struggled against her, “Peeeearl, I’m fine!”</p><p>Amethyst started to laugh at him.</p><p>Snapdragon had to giggle too at the sight of Pearl mothering Sundrop.</p><p>Garnet interrupted the scene, “Sundrop, go get your tessen.”</p><p>The boy looked down at his belt loops on his shorts, seeing that he had neglected to tie it on.  He seemed to be relieved as he pulled away from Pearl and went back up to where his bed was.</p><p>“BRB!” he yelled.</p><p>“BRB?” Pearl questioned.</p><p>Snapdragon rolled his eyes, “It’s an acronym for 'be right back'. They make things faster, though normally one would text it and not say it out loud.”</p><p>“That's confusing,” Pearl frowned as Sundrop made his way back down with his mother’s tessen now on his waist.</p><p>“Alrighty,” Sundrop jumped into a place in front of the gems.</p><p>It wasn’t until they started to warp did Garnet start to explain things to Sundrop.</p><p>“There have been some anomalies at the Pyramid Temple in one of the Gem Battlefields,” Garnet started. “A few days ago, I retrieved the key to getting in. Our job is to go in and see if we can find the source of it all.”</p><p>Snapdragon nodded, finding that this would be an easier mission. Definitely not fight a Gem Monster kind of mission, Sundrop wasn’t prepared for any of those ones yet.</p><p>“Now,” Garnet continued. “We don’t know what could be in the temple, so it most likely set up with traps in case of intrusion.  So, you're going to need to be careful, Sunni.”</p><p>The silence on the other end made everyone look at the human, who had a slight haze to his eyes. His brother did zone out a lot.  He seemed to forget this world and go into his very own.</p><p>“Sundrop!” Garnet spoke up. “Pay attention. This is going to be your first serious mission. You need to be ready.”</p><p>He blinked out of his trance, nodding quickly, “I’m ready. I’m so ready!”</p><p>Snapdragon sighed as his brother flipped upside down.</p><p>Pearl flipped him back upright, “Sundrop, don’t do that. You’re going to make yourself sick.”</p><p>“I’m just really excited!” he shook around.</p><p>Snapdragon placed a hand on his forehead as his brother grabbed his backpack and started to rifle through it, “Besides, I’m pretty sure there's something in here for that.”</p><p>The action made a small block of wood float out.</p><p>“MY BABY PIANO!” Sundrop started to float up higher in order to grab it.</p><p>Panic flooded him as he saw his brother float higher and higher.  He needed to grab his brother before he could get hurt. </p><p>“Get back here, Sundrop,” Pearl started and when she saw Snapdragon go after him she frowned. “Not you too, Snapdragon.”</p><p>Sundrop’s grip grabbed his instrument as soon as the warp ended.</p><p>The three gems below them landed gracefully on the ground, while the brothers started to fall down. Snapdragon secured his arms around his brother’s waist and pulled him tightly towards him. The gem spun them around so that they would land on Snapdragon’s back.</p><p>Pain shocked through his body at the collision.</p><p>“Ow,” he muttered under his breath as he felt something sticky seep into his clothing.</p><p>He felt Sundrop squirm in his grip, and it took him a second to realize why. When his grip released Sundrop his brother was at his side in an instant.</p><p>“Are you okay?!” he asked as he shoved his kalimba back into his backpack.</p><p>Snapdragon gave a nod, “Just kind of sticky.”</p><p>Taking in there surroundings Snapdragon saw that they were surrounded by strawberries and swords. The sticky stuff that was covering him must be juices left from the fruits. At least it wasn't a sword that had been driven through his back.</p><p>As he started to stand though, a large group of butterflies flew toward him. He frowned, taking a step back in order to try and get away, but the butterflies had other plans. They landed on Snapdragon, covering him. The pink gem struggled and started to run around as they cut off his sight.</p><p>He tripped over what was probably one of the giant strawberries.</p><p>A hand came into view as Garnet waved them away.</p><p>“They’re just butterflies,” Garnet reassured.</p><p>Snapdragon slowly nodded, “Thank you. They just startled me.”</p><p>He stood spotting his brother with a few of the butterflies just sitting on him.  One in his hair, another on his finger, and the last settled on his backpack.  He was giggling to himself, but he tripped sending the insects away.</p><p>"Are you sure we should bring Sundrop with us?" Pearl asked as she made her way towards that.</p><p>"Sh," Garnet shushed her.  "Just look at him."</p><p>The three turned at him holding the war fan out, trying to fight whatever tripped him probably.</p><p>They started to make their way through the battlefield, to the temple.</p><p>The entire place was odd. The strawberries here were much bigger than any ordinary one. This was a battlefield. Gems had died here…Snapdragon grabbed his brother’s hand tightly.</p><p>Pearl smiled as she looked around, “Unbelievable, this was once a Gem Battlefield, and now its wild strawberries as far as the eye can see! Oh, that’s what I love about Earth so much! Maybe this will be a light mission after all.”</p><p>That was a better way to look at it.</p><p>Pearl wasn’t paying attention and bumped into Garnet’s back.</p><p>“Maybe not,” Garnet replied, looking up at the Pyramid Temple, but it was upside down.</p><p>She produced a small pyramid and placed it into a slot on the side of the pyramid. Creating a door for them to enter. Snapdragon's other hand gripped his brother's elbow as they walked through the door.  </p><hr/><p>Sunni stared in awe of the temple. He made sure that he was going to remember every moment of this mission.  Sunni made sure that he wasn't going to goof up this one like he did to Moon Spire.</p><p>An idea formed and he called out into the emptiness, “Sunni’s the best!”</p><p>The temple echoed back to him, “Sunni’s the best, Sunni’s the best, Sunni’s the best…”</p><p>“Why thank you, temple,” Sunni smiled and winked.</p><p>His excitement buzzed through him.  He didn't even care that his brother was hovering over his side.  Sunni was going to make the most of this!</p><p>Amethyst snorted, “You’re a doof.”</p><p>Instead of retorting, Sundrop explored the room. He wanted to take in as much as he could with his first mission. When Snappy let go of his arm to go over to the gems, Sunni took advantage of it and went a little farther into the temple. </p><p>He eyed a tiny pyramid.</p><p>“The temple has a baby,” he whispered to himself, making his way over to it. “What should we do with this baby pyramid?”</p><p>The gems seemed to be half-listening to him as they looked around for any strange happens in the other direction.</p><p>“Whatever it is you shouldn’t touch it,” Pearl replied to him as Amethyst gave a yawn.</p><p>Sundrop blinked as he had flipped the baby over, “Wait, what?”</p><p>Everything flipped forcing the Crystal Gems to all fall towards the new bottom.</p><p>“Sundrop, what have we said about touching magical things?” Pearl yelled as the fell.</p><p>Sunni guilt took over him as he started looking at his hands, “Definitely…always…never do it.”</p><p>The gems all landed gracefully on the ground, while Sunni had to be caught in his brother’s arms before he could fall on the ground.</p><p>“Thanks…again,” Sunni gave a smile.</p><p>Around them, there were many doorways, all of them equally spaced.</p><p>“Looks like we’re going to have to split up,” Amethyst said.</p><p>Looking up at his brother, Snappy nodded to her and started to carry him towards one of the doors.  He was getting no say in this, was he?</p><p>But before his brother could leave, Pearl snatched Sunni up, “Right. Sundrop and I will stay here where it is safe and you three can go off and solve the mystery of this place.”</p><p>Sunni bounced up and down, “I want to solve a mystery!”</p><p>“Yeah!” Amethyst agreed and pulled him away from Pearl. “Let’s go solve a mystery!”</p><p>Sunni was pulled up over her head as she went off in another direction.</p><p>Excitement filled Sunni at the thought of actually getting to go out. Pearl would just keep him in the center of the temple and he wouldn’t be able to do anything at all. Snapdragon would just carry him the entire way through. Amethyst, however, would let him have fun on the mission.</p><p>“Oh no,” Pearl glared and pulled the human boy back into her arms. “You two are a disaster waiting to happen.”</p><p>“Than he should come with me,” Snapdragon argued, reaching up for his brother.</p><p>It felt like they were playing football with him or something. Sunni frowned, he wasn’t going to get a say in this, was he? So, he just crossed his arms and hoped that he would be set down soon.</p><p>“Sunni comes with me,” they were interrupted in their fight.</p><p>He looked up to see Garnet was standing over them.</p><p>“Really?” he asked. He didn’t think that Garnet would want to go with him, but this meant that he’d be able to show her he was capable of doing serious missions. He smiled, “Awesome!”</p><p>“Just remember that this is a serious mission,” she stated.</p><p>“YEP!” he smiled before realizing how he sounded. “I mean, yes. Pearl, could you set me down?”</p><p>It seemed that she had forgotten she was holding him, “Wha-? Oh, yes, sorry.”</p><p>Once on the ground, he was able to skip over towards the tallest gem.</p><p>“This is going to be the teacups all over again,” Pearl muttered.</p><p>Sunni spared a glance at his brother, who was staring blankly at the ground. </p><p>Sunni just gave a nervous laugh, “I think we’ve up that behind us.”</p><p>He was quick to go after the leader of the Crystal Gem and step into one of the doorways.  As soon as they stepped in, the door behind them slammed shut.  In front of them, a door opened and some of the tiles on the ground lit up.</p><p>“We need to stay on the glowing panels,” Garnet told him before he could step on any of them.</p><p>Sundrop nodded, “Okie Dokie! I mean okay!”</p><p>He jumped up and landed on the closest panel. He hopped across the tiles making his way all the over to the end. Once at the other end, he fist-pumped the air.</p><p>The temple started to rumble and Sundrop lost balance landing on the panels with a thump. They turned red and everything started to shake. The panels started to collapse along with the one that Sunni had fallen onto. He grabbed on and held on for dear life.</p><p>“Sundrop!” he heard Garnet yell.</p><p>His hands were starting to slip and his lungs started to burn as he looked down at the fire that was below him.</p><p>Before he could fall, Garnet had hopped across and grabbed him by the leg.</p><p>He laughed a little, “That was awesome!” he caught himself. “I mean that was seriously dangerous. Thank you, Garnet.”</p><p>His bow caught on fire as he said that though.</p><p>They both started to walk into the next room, Sunni patting out a flame. The door shut behind them once again.</p><p>Sunni placed a hand on his side as he took in a few breaths.</p><p>“We can take a break here if you aren’t feeling well, Sunni,” Garnet stated.</p><p>Sunni shook his head, “It was more the shock. I’m doing great!”</p><p>He flexed his arms.</p><p>“Alright, but be careful. You might trigger a trap with that gun show,” Garnet replied.</p><p>“Right, I’ll put these babies away,” he said as he looked around the room staring at the wall. “This place really likes triangles.”</p><p>He brushed his hand against the wall, staring at all the little shapes and one section impressed in.</p><p>Spikes come down from the ceiling.</p><p>“Run!” Garnet yelled to him.</p><p>Sunni barely missed a trap ripping his backpack strap and sleeve on the spike. Garnet summoned her gauntlets in order to spot them from coming down on the two.</p><p>He clutched his backpack to his chest now, a feeling of nausea went through him.</p><p>“Sundrop, run!” she yelled at him.</p><p>“Right,” he rushed to the other side of the chamber.</p><p>Garnet somersaulted after him, landing next to Sunni, “Now that was pretty close.”</p><p>“Yeah…” he mumbled.</p><p>They entered the next room and within it there was fire and spikes and swinging blades and lava…</p><p>The door behind them closed.</p><p>Sundrop clutched his backpack tighter to his chest.</p><p>“Get ready, Sunni. This is going to be intense.”</p><p>
  <em>“Get ready, Sunni. This is going to be intense.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sunni nodded as he sat across from Garnet on the teacup ride. Snapdragon was down below holding a camera in his hands. Sunni didn’t know why his brother didn’t want to ride on the ride with them. He waved at him smiling as the ride started to spin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>In another cup, Amethyst had fallen asleep and Pearl held a teapot.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I misunderstood the point of this ride,” she muttered.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“This is fun, Sunni,” Garnet said.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sunni nodded, “Yep…”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A sudden wave of nausea hit him, “Oh…I shouldn't have had lunch after the ride.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Garnet lean over placing a hand on his back, “Do you need us to stop the—”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Before she could finish, Snappy had jumped up and grabbed his brother before down.</em>
</p><hr/><p>
  <em>Snapdragon felt his brother’s uncomfortableness and did the only thing he could do. He jumped up and leap onto the ride. Lifting his brother into his arms and suddenly jumped off the ride. However, the two landed on Mr. Smilely, breaking the ride's controls.  That didn't stop Snapdragon as he got up and left.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“SORRY!” Sunni yelled out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Mr. Smiley yelled at them, “YOU TWO ARE BANNED FOREVER!”</em>
</p><p>Snapdragon frowned as he looked at the walls, “Which one did they do through?”</p><p>He had to find his brother.  Something wasn't right.  Snapdragon could feel it in his gem.  Something was wrong with Sundrop.  He needed to find him now!</p><p>The sensible part of him was telling him that Garnet wouldn't let anything happen to Sundrop, but his instincts told him to find wherever they were right now!</p><p>Pearl sighed, “Snapdragon, you aren’t going to be able to find them like this. Nothing makes sense here!”</p><p>Amethyst yelled as she ran into another room.</p><p>Snapdragon shook his head, “Something isn’t right. He’s scared…I can feel it.”</p><p>The sound of panting caught his attention and he saw Garnet with Sundrop under her arm.</p><p>“What’s wrong? Is he okay?” Snapdragon ran and grabbed his brother from her.</p><p>“I think he’s taking a nap,” Garnet replied as the boy blinked.</p><p>“Did we make it…” he asked as he looked around.</p><p>“I carried you over while you took a nap,” Garnet replied.</p><p>Snapdragon took in his brother’s appearance, he was pale and sweaty and shaken up.</p><p>“Nap? Why are we back here?” he asked.</p><p>Snapdragon shrugged, “We don’t know.”</p><p>Amethyst ran out of the room and going into another.</p><p>“There are sixteen doors, and we entered from the northeast and went through three consecutive rooms in a straight line...” Amethyst ran out with a bear trap as Pearl explained “...But arrived back here out the southern-most door, which could only mean... W-Well, I don’t know what it means! I—THIS IS A DEATH TRAP!”</p><p>Amethyst came back out frozen in a block of ice. Pearl ran over and summoned her spear to break the ice.</p><p>Sundrop frowned, “What are we going to do?”</p><p>“We go back in. Again, and again, and again, and again.”</p><p>Snapdragon froze as he felt his brother go ridged in his arms.</p><p>“I CAN’T!” he yelled clutching onto his backpack.</p><p>Pearl turned to him, concern, “Steven.”</p><p>“It’s okay,” Garnet tried.</p><p>“Yeah, we’ll figure this out,” Snapdragon reassured.</p><p>“No! I can’t. I want to do this so bad, but I just can’t,” he frowned. “You guys were right about me. How can I even protect the Earth if I can’t even ride a carnival ride? This is just like the teacups.”</p><p>Pearl reached out, “Oh Sundrop, I-I didn’t mean that.”</p><p>Suddenly, Sundrop pulled out of his brother’s grip and stood, “What…what if this is just like the Teacups? Why we’re getting so lost? Why I feel so sick? Why Snappy is so worried? What if all the rooms are spinning? So that we keep coming back to this room.”</p><p>Everyone just stared at Sundrop.</p><p>It…it made sense.</p><p>Garnet moved and started to punch the ground until the ground was gone and they fell.</p><p>Garnet landed on a circling upside-down pyramid and grabbed the back of Sundrop's shirt before he could fall all the way to the bottom.  Snapdragon fell onto one of the pyramids next to them.  He looked around seeing that Pearl had fallen onto one across from them and Amethyst had broken out of the ice block when she connected to one of the pyramids and then grabbed the next one.</p><p>“This is unbelievable!” she produced a hologram of the rooms. “This Gem-powered mechanism! It's manipulating the rooms above. Every room we entered spun us until we came back to the central chamber! It’s just like the teacups ride at Funland!”</p><p>“Sunni already figured it out,” Garnet pointed out.</p><p>She blushed and hide her hologram.</p><p>Sunni pointed at the gem, “Guys, there’s the gem.”</p><p>Following his finger, there in the center of the room was an obelisk with a white gem in it.  However, the gem was too far away for them to get there.  They'd have to get over there.</p><p>Snapdragon looked over at his brother, “So, how do we get to it?”</p><p>“Garnet," Sundrop started.  "If you could throw Snaps over there, he could get the gem out of that...thing."</p><p>Snapdragon nodded to Garnet and jumped towards her allowing her to grab him and getting him into an easier position to throw. </p><p>“Ready?” she asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” he replied.</p><p>And she threw him.</p><p>He grabbed onto the obelisk and scooted down to the gem.  With one hand, he pulled at it trying to get it out of the wall. As he pulled, the rock started to glow.  Suddenly, it ejects itself and Snapdragon caught it. </p><p>With one hand holding him up and the other holding the gem, he lifted it higher as it started to glow.  Around him, the pyramids started to glow and retreat into the gem.  Noth only that, the temple started to rumble and before Snapdragon could make his way back over to the gems, the temple exploded.</p><hr/><p>He blinked up at the sky raising a hand up.  A small butterfly landed on his hand, fluttering its little wings.</p><p>"Sundrop!  Snapdragon!" he heard Pearl yell.</p><p>Sunni was quick to get up from the ground, "I'm here."</p><p>The butterfly flew off his finger flying over to a pink body lying on a strawberry pile with the gem held over his head.  Snappy's eyes were closed and his grip was tight on the gem, protecting it from any harm.</p><p>"He's over here," Amethyst pointed over to where Sunni was staring.</p><p>Pearl made her way over to him as his eyes opened, taking in his surroundings and pulling the gem down towards his chest.  Snapdragon loosened his grip on the gem, allowing her to bubble the gem and send it off to the temple.</p><p>Sunni jumped over the large berries and knelt down next to his brother.  He started to wipe some of the juice that had landed on Snappy's face with his sleeve.  </p><p>It was over.  His first serious and they got what they needed.  They had retrieved the gem!</p><p>He started to laugh, giggling into his free hand.</p><p>Snapdragon tilted his head in confusion, "What's so funny?"</p><p>Sunni shook his head, "Nothing's funny, I'm just relieved."</p><p>How long has Sunni wanted to do this?  How long has Sunni wanted to be able to go out and do missions along with the Crystal Gems?  And here he was, and he actually did it!</p><p>Pearl smiled across from him, "I think you handled that mission pretty well, Sundrop."</p><p>Amethyst set a hand on Sunni's shoulder, "Yeah, nice work, bud."</p><p>Garnet walked over to them handing Sunni his backpack, which must have fallen off earlier.</p><p>"I think you're capable enough for missions," she stated.  "Just the way you are."</p><p>Stars sparkled in Sunni's eyes.  This was it.  He's waited so long to hear those words.  And now they were said.</p><p>He felt so happy as he rummaged through his backpack for his kalimba and started to play a tune on it.</p><p>“Oh... That's the end of another day. It was mighty serious, I'd have to say. The Crystal Gems looked really cool when they made the temple exploo—” before he could finish Snappy screamed as the butterflies came back and covered him once again.</p><p>“<b>They’re in my eyes agai</b><strong>n!</strong>"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm a little late with this chapter and it's not one of my better ones, but we get to see Sunni getting to become more of a member of the Crystal Gems.</p><p>I had to visit my grandparents so I didn't get to really work on the story until later this week.</p><p>And a kalimba is like a piano you play with your thumbs.  It sounds like a music box and the base looks like a ukulele a tiny bit.</p><p>Thanks for reading next chapter should come out on Saturday.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Episode 8: A Struggle in Bonding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sunni discovers that Amethyst is a secret wrestler, while Snapdragon worries about his brother.  You know, a regular Saturday with the Crystal Gems.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was exciting getting to do gem mission with the gems. Now, every time the gems asked him to join them on a mission, he got a slight rush of adrenaline. Grabbing his cheeseburger backpack and tying his mother’s tessen to his belt loop before racing down the stairs and jumping up onto the warp pad always did that. Today’s mission hadn’t been that difficult for the gems, however, it had become the main topic for argument today.</p>
<p>He could feel his chest expand in rage and anger. It hurt…it was hurting too much. Sunni had to force himself to not add to the argument. He didn’t know what this. It was scary because these weren’t his own emotions. They were the gems. It wouldn’t be right if he acted on them.</p>
<p>Once they landed back at the temple Pearl started yelling, “How could you POSSIBLY think punching a blood polyp was a good idea? Look at all the gunk you got on me!”</p>
<p>She flicked away a tiny spot on her arm, but it was nothing compared to Snappy who was cover in the gunk from the neck down.</p>
<p>“How are you supposed to remove this stuff?” he asked as his he waddled down.</p>
<p>However, no one seemed to be listening to him.  His brother just went over to the kitchen, probably trying to get to the sink in hopes to wash the gunk off.</p>
<p>“I mean look at Snappy, he’s covered in it. What’s he supposed to do when it hardens?!” Pearl exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Wait what?!” both twins yelled out at the same time.</p>
<p>In the corner of Sunni’s eye, he saw his brother freeze in place because of the gunk around him hardening his body in place.</p>
<p>“How was I supposed to know it was going to pop?” Amethyst yelled back.</p>
<p>Sunni awkwardly grabbed the straps on his backpack, “Uh, guys?”</p>
<p>They ignored him.</p>
<p>“You’re always putting us in danger with your little outbursts!” Pearl continued, as Amethyst put her fingers in her ears and stuck out her tongue. “Ugh, you are just so…CHILDISH!”</p>
<p>That sent another awful feeling deep in Sunni's stomach.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah. And don't forget "reckless", "vulgar", "loudmouth". And that's just what makes me so AWESOME! RIGHT, GARNET?!?” she yelled out.</p>
<p>However, Garnet didn’t seem to be on her side, “Amethyst, you are a Crystal Gem. You need to act like it.”</p>
<p>Another horrible emotion ripped through his body.</p>
<p>“Fine,” Amethyst turned around and entered her room.</p>
<p>“I think we’re finally getting through to her,” Pearl smiled, but Garnet groaned. “Right, Garnet?”</p>
<p>Sunni frowned watching them leave into the Temple too.</p>
<p>“That didn’t feel…right,” Sunni frowned making his way to his brother. “I think they really hurt Amethyst’s feelings.”</p>
<p>Snappy shuffled in his frozen position, “She seemed fine to me.”</p>
<p>Sunni frowned, setting his backpack down, “Look I can’t really understand it, but I know that conversation really upset her.”</p>
<p>His brother, however, didn’t seem to see it that way, “Pearl and Garnet are only looking out everyone, what if you had happened to you on the mission?”</p>
<p>Sunni frowned, “This isn’t about me.  Look, I’m going to go out and clear my thoughts.”</p>
<p>He left even when he heard Snappy call out to him. Sunni had to think.</p>
<p>What had he been feeling?</p>
<p>Anger and annoyance, that had probably been Pearl.</p>
<p>Exasperation, that one didn’t come in until Garnet spoke up so that must have been her.</p>
<p>First nonchalant from Amethyst, but as time went on it melted into rage, then it was frustration and sadness.</p>
<p>Should he confront them about this? Was it even right to be doing so? No, this could be a serious problem if it wasn't addressed soon. If he went back to the temple he could try.</p>
<p>Would anyone listen to him?</p>
<p>He knew Amethyst. She doesn’t like talking about her feeling. She would just push it aside and laugh it off.</p>
<p>Pearl and Garnet would only brush him off.</p>
<p>And Snappy, he just doesn’t get these kinds of things.</p>
<p>He had found a place in the sand, close enough to the city, far enough from the temple. The sun was slowly setting, but he couldn’t find it in himself to look at the scene. Sometimes his mind just wandered way too much.</p>
<p>He didn’t even remember falling asleep.</p>
<p><em>“Sundrop…wake up, Sundrop,”</em> a tiny voice spoke, but it felt very far away.</p>
<p>However, as Sunni tried to follow after the voice a sudden jerk of emotion woke him up completely. He turned around, hands gripping onto the coarse sand. In front of him, he saw a small figure, Amethyst, and suddenly she shapeshifted as she went into town.</p>
<p>Sunni followed after her, puzzled as he did so. Did something happen while he was gone?</p>
<p>He followed after her to a building and peeped behind a piece of wall.</p>
<p>At first, he frowned at what he was seeing. It was a wrestling ring with a crowd watching. He saw a wrestler in the middle of the ring. Familiar and purple…</p>
<p>Mr. Smiley seemed to be the emceeing the event, “For those of you befuddled by the events of athleticism, you are about to see the Purple Puma, rrraah, is the single most hated wrestler in Beach City Underground's... HIS-TO-RYYY!”</p>
<p>“What?!” Sunni whispered, his grip on the wall tightened.</p>
<p>The audience booed at the Purple Puma, but he didn’t seem to notice it as he basked in pride.</p>
<p>Sunni frowned.</p>
<p>Was that Amethyst? They were purple, but couldn’t humans be purple…in some of his comics, they were.</p>
<p>He leaned in a little and continued to watch, hoping to get to the bottom of this.</p>
<p>Mr. Smiley continued, “Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's introduce his opponent, or should I say, victim, hahaha, the Loch Ness Bloggster!”</p>
<p>In the other corner of the ring there stood Ronaldo, dressed as the Loch Ness Bloggster, “I'm... uuhhhh-haa... going to end your reign of terror! GAAH!!!”</p>
<p>However, as he charged at the Purple Puma he was knocked out with a block with ease.</p>
<p>Mr. Smiley laughed, “Well, now, now that was quick.”</p>
<p>The audience continued to boo as the Purple Puma put his foot on the defeated teen’s back.</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah, I don’t like it either but hey, what do you do?”</p>
<p>With that Puma lifted up the Loch Ness Bloggster and threw him into the crowd.</p>
<p>Sunni found himself in awe as he watched the fight.</p>
<p>He was really excited as he watched the Purple Puma step and shapeshift into Amethyst. That confirmed his suspicions.</p>
<p>He jumped towards her excitedly, “Amethyst!”</p>
<p>Suddenly, there was a hand on his arms, and he was thrown onto the ground. He felt a dull pain in his back, but he ignored it.</p>
<p>She looked down at him in shock, “What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>He ignored that question, “Are you a secret wrestler?”</p>
<p>Amethyst frowned looking down at the ground, “…yyyeah…”</p>
<p>Sunni gasped excitedly, “That’s so cool! But why is it a secret?”</p>
<p>Amethyst placed her arm around his shoulder, “Let me explain something to you. In the ring, nobody can tell me what to do! And if they try, I HIT ‘EM IN THE FACE WITH A CHAIR!”</p>
<p>“And people…like that?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Like it? They love it. Well, they hate it, but that’s all part of the fun, you know. E-everyone here…gets that. URGGGHHHH! You don’t know what it’s like having Garnet and Pearl on your back all the time!” Amethyst ranted.</p>
<p>That was wrong.</p>
<p>“Are you kidding?! Almost everyone I know treats me like I’m some breakable object. It’s always, Sundrop go back to the warp. Sundrop, did you forget to bring another jacket. Sundrop, don’t bring all that peanut butter,” he replied. “It just gets so frustrating!”</p>
<p>However, as Sunni looked up a look had taken over Amethyst’s features. One that told him she had an idea.</p>
<p>“Why don’t you come wrestling with me?” she asked. “I haven’t got the tag team belt yet.”</p>
<p>Sunni smiled at that idea, but quickly shook his head, “The others wouldn’t want me to. I’m still not really allowed to go on that many fighting missions, I doubt they find it okay if I started fighting people.”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s not like we’re telling them,” Amethyst stated. “Pearl and Garnet would totally take all the fun out of it, but if they don’t know no one would be getting hurt. No one has to worry; we still get to wrestle.”</p>
<p>Another secret.</p>
<p>But this one was different. This wasn’t about protecting Snaps. This was about Sunni and Amethyst.</p>
<p>But this was the same. It was both of them keeping a secret about something that only they knew.</p>
<p>“I won’t tell a soul.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Snapdragon was stuck in his prison for five hours when he finally managed to break free. Well…he got startled when the door opened and fell, breaking him from his prison. Relief flooded him when he saw that it was Sundrop and Amethyst. Snapdragon wanted to respect his brother’s wishes, but damn was it scary that his brother was gone for so long.</p>
<p>Quickly, he made his way over to them, “Where have you been?”</p>
<p>He hadn’t meant for it to come off so rude. Snapdragon had wanted it to come off as concerned, but it came out too forceful.</p>
<p>“I was on the beach,” Sundrop made a motion with his thumb, pointing in a direction.</p>
<p>“For five hours?” he crossed his arms.</p>
<p>His brother wouldn’t be one to just sit down and do nothing for so long. Sundrop must have been doing something.</p>
<p>When Sundrop hesitated, Snapdragon knew something was up.</p>
<p>“He fell asleep on the beach,” Amethyst rolled her eyes stepping towards the room. “He’s done it before and when I saw him, I woke ‘im up.”</p>
<p>That didn’t convince him either. Yes, Sundrop has fallen asleep on the beach before, but it always when he was with someone. Not when he was alone.</p>
<p>“Amethyst, what were you doing out?” he changed to subject over.</p>
<p>However, she didn’t give him an answer. Instead, she blew a raspberry and opened the temple door.</p>
<p>“What I do with my life is none of your concern, Snaps,” was all she said before leaving the room.</p>
<p>That made Snapdragon pull red flags. Avoiding the question. It was like they were both dancing around him.</p>
<p>So, he shouldn’t have been shocked when he turned and Sundrop was already up the stairs grabbing his pajamas.</p>
<p>Snapdragon quickly ran up the stairs and got to his brother.</p>
<p>“Sundrop?” he asked. “Are you sure you’re okay?”</p>
<p>He nodded, “Yeah…I fine.”</p>
<p>With one hand, Sundrop gathered his clothing, and with the other, he patted Snapdragon on the shoulder.</p>
<p>He didn’t question him, even though he really wanted to. Sundrop didn’t need him to be breathing down his neck all the time. It was hard. It was really hard like trying to write with your non-dominant hand. It was possible, but after a few minutes it started to get really uncomfortable and all you want to do is switch back.</p>
<p>Like every night, when his brother fell asleep, he watched his brother sleep. His hand slowly finding its way to his brother’s hair combing through it. If he really wanted to, he could sleep, but he did this instead. He watched his brother instead. He stewed in his thoughts.</p>
<p>For the longest time, Snapdragon thought he and Sundrop would be the ones to face the world together.</p>
<p>It was…different to think that maybe one day they would grow apart.</p>
<p>All the siblings grow apart.</p>
<p>But were Snapdragon and Sundrop all siblings?</p>
<p>Was this selfish?</p>
<p>Should he give his brother more freedom? Should he try to stop hovering?</p>
<p>But who would protect him?</p>
<p>The past few weeks Sundrop’s shown he’s much more cable than any of the Crystal Gems would have given him credit for before, but could he fight against a gem monster on his own? His brother had been able to take on the gem shard, but things could be different. Things could go horribly wrong.</p>
<p>Snapdragon hadn’t realized just how long he had been in thought until he saw brother’s maroon eyes blinking up through dark lashes.</p>
<p>“Morning…” Sundrop shifted onto his side looking up at his brother.</p>
<p>“Good morning,” Snapdragon frowned. “Did you sleep well?”</p>
<p>“Mhm,” he gave a nod and snuggled into his blanks. “I had the best idea for a crafting project…so I have dibs on the room till I’m done.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon shrugged, not an uncommon occurrence to happen.</p>
<p>So, he spent his day reading one of his books on the couch.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Sunni skipped across the beach in his new outfit he had made. He wore a pink collared shirt with a pair of suspenders attached to a black shirt, a purple tie with a yellow money sign which he had painted on, and a small tiger mask with a pair of kitten ears on his head. His hair had been braided back just enough. He was quite happy with his outfit.</p>
<p>He excitedly told his character to Amethyst, “Are you READY?! Presenting Tiger Millionaire! Rich feline industrialist from Jungle Island, once the single child of the wealthy Tiger Family, he clawed out his own destiny, making money in the coconut mines—"</p>
<p>“You put a lot of thought into this,” Amethyst stated.</p>
<p>“Well yeah,” Sunni replied. “What’s your backstory?”</p>
<p>“Pumas are cool,” Amethyst grinned as she placed her arms behind her head.</p>
<p>Sunni frowned, “That’s…good…”</p>
<p>It was exciting being at the ring.</p>
<p>Mr. Smiley started the event, “Two local heroes in the ring tonight, they build hospitals for the sick, and they build muscles that look slick! Give it up for...Concrete Heat and Chunk Truck! Facing off against the Purple Puma and our newest, MEWEST competitor, Tiiigeeerrr Millionaire!!!”</p>
<p>Looking around, Sunni saw a few familiar faces.</p>
<p>He saw Lars and Sadie and could just make out their conversation.</p>
<p>“That little guy’s going to get creamed,” Lars sighed.</p>
<p>Sadie stared at him and Sunni was quick to look away, “You know from here, he almost looks like Sunni.”</p>
<p>“Pffft! Yeah right,” Lars rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>Sunni sighed. He looked up at the two men in front of him.</p>
<p>Could he actually fight them?</p>
<p>Sunni’s never been trained or anything.</p>
<p>His hands tightened on the ropes.</p>
<p>“Sunni, you look like you’re going to throw up,” Amethyst frowned.</p>
<p>Sunni looked down, “Just a little nervous.”</p>
<p>“You don’t need to fight,” Amethyst sighed. “You really just have to be here for this to be a tag team battle.”</p>
<p>“Um…okay,” he nodded, staying on the opposite side of the ring.</p>
<p>The bell rung.</p>
<p>The Purple Puma roared and tackled Chuck Truck, knocking him away. The audience booed. However, Concrete Heat was approaching Puma from behind.</p>
<p>“Oh! Devastating move by Puma!”</p>
<p>“Look out!” Sunni yelled out, but it was too late as the opponent had shoved a traffic cone over Puma’s head.</p>
<p>“What a gross use of safety equipment, and your tax dollars!”</p>
<p>“What that’s not fair!” Sunni found himself yelling.</p>
<p>“It might not seem fair, but hey, anything goes in wrestling,” Mr. Smiley replied.</p>
<p>“Anything…” Sunni looked down at his prop briefcase and looked back up at the fight. “Looks like this Tiger’s gotta turn cheetah. HEY! Chuck Truck! I’ll give you a million jungle bucks to throw the match!”</p>
<p>It wasn’t something he would ever do…but it seemed that wrestling brought something out of him that Sunni didn’t know he had.</p>
<p>“What’s this? It looks like Tiger Millionaire is offering a bribe!”</p>
<p>Chuck Truck had made his way over to him, “Why, we could fill a thousand potholes—”</p>
<p>Before he could finish, Sunni had slammed open the case and hit him under the chin.</p>
<p>“Oh man did you see that!?”</p>
<p>Puma had pulled off the cone and bodyslammed into Chuck Truck.</p>
<p>“OH! I mean just…wow!”</p>
<p>“Way to go, Tiger!” Puma grinned grabbing his hand and raising it in the air.</p>
<p>It was weird. This wasn’t like the gem fights he’s seen. No, it was something different and it was fun! He wasn’t being treated any differently. A simple costume could do that. Make everyone believe he was someone else. Someone not…Sundrop Rose Universe, but Tiger Millionaire.</p>
<p>And the matches went on. And he learned how to play dirty. Before, to Sunni, it felt bad to play dirty in a fight. In his comic books, the fighting was nothing like this. It was honorable…well maybe Hood fought dirty…but he always seemed to be right in the middle of the line of good and evil. But it made fighting for him…easier in a way. And making this character up was fun.</p>
<p>Amethyst had told him being a jerk was part of the fun.</p>
<p>And it was…and it helped. If people knew it was him, he would be allowed to do this anymore.</p>
<p>Being sick sometimes…just put a label on you.</p>
<p>Slashing around in a puddle of soda.</p>
<p>Knocking the soda out of Lars’s hand…not so much.</p>
<p>He paid done on the roof staring up at the sky with a sigh.</p>
<p>The stars weren’t quite out yet, but you could start to see the moon in the darkening sky. He wasn’t in his costume…Sunni didn’t want to wear it. To him, it was strange now. At first, it didn’t hurt, he was being a jerk because he had this mask on. Sunni would never do those kinds of things, but it was all part of the act…wasn’t it?</p>
<p>He shouldn’t feel bad.</p>
<p>Sunni groaned into his hands.</p>
<p>He heard footsteps but didn’t move his hands.</p>
<p>“Hey Tiger! Are ya ready to win out FINAL MATCH?!” Amethyst asked, leaning over him.</p>
<p>The words from the night before still stuck with him…</p>
<p>“Amethyst, am I the cruelest creature on the planet?” he asked, looking through his fingers.</p>
<p>Amethyst just chuckled at his question, “Oh Sunni, those are just words that people use to describe how they feel about you.”</p>
<p>Sunni went back into hiding behind his hands instead. It was much easier to do than face the world at the moment.</p>
<p>Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from his face, “Listen Sundrop, you can’t let anyone make you feel like garbage.”</p>
<p>He frowned, looking up, “Is that how you feel?”</p>
<p>“I only feel how I want to feel,” Amethyst stated before storming off.</p>
<p>Sunni frowned looking up at the sky again, “What am I even doing...?”</p>
<p>He sighed getting up from his spot and left to grab his costume for tonight…Sunni frowned whenever he couldn’t find one of his drawings. He likes to look at them before going off the wrestle. They weren’t anything fancy, but he liked them. They were pictures of him and Amethyst.</p>
<p>Still with a heavy stomach, he got himself into his costume and away from the temple.</p>
<p>At the match, all Sunni could hear was the people yelling at him.  The anger was flooding his system.  Sunni took a deep breath and gripped his black skirt tightly in his hands holding it in fists.  Getting too emotional was bad.</p>
<p>He didn't pay attention as Mr. Smiley introduced their competition.  Sunni was too busy trying to bottle up these emotions.</p>
<p>So, he could hardly pay attention when the lights turned off and Pearl and Garnet stood in front of them.</p>
<p>"What are guys doing here?!" Amethyst yelled.</p>
<p>"What are WE doing here?!" Pearl looked flabbergasted.  "What is this?!"</p>
<p>In her hand, there was the missing drawing.</p>
<p>Sunni frowned, blinking up as Amethyst glared at him.  A sudden presence at his back became aware to Sunni.  He tilted his head to look behind and a glare took over his face.</p>
<p>"You looked through my stuff?" he gritted out.</p>
<p>"What other choice did I have?  You've been lying to me!" Snappy glared up at him from behind the ring.</p>
<p>Sunni clenched his fists.</p>
<p>A new wave of our rage went through Sunni.  Turning his head, Amethyst stormed forward.</p>
<p>Everyone seemed to be oblivious to what was actually going on.  But Sunni knew.</p>
<p>"Looks like we have some new competitors!" Mr. Smiley continued, like this all part of the show.</p>
<p>Pearl, however, didn't want any of this as she pushed him, knocking the microphone out of his hand, "No you don't.  This Match is canceled!"</p>
<p>Sunni found himself almost torn in two.  On one hand, he wanted to go.  It was too risky for him to be doing something like this. But on the other hand, he’s been growing so much and what would happen if the Gems never gave him the room to do so. What if he needed to be the one to take that leap?</p>
<p>Pearl turning her attention to the two, "What are you too even thinking?!  You shouldn't even be doing something so dangerous to your body!  And what are you even thinking, using your gem powers on humans!"</p>
<p>Amethyst glared, “It’s not enough that you have to be on my back all the time, you have to ruin this for me too?!”</p>
<p>Pearl sighed, “We are here to fight.”</p>
<p>The crowd had other ideas however as they started to chant fight over and over.</p>
<p>This was going to end badly if Sunni didn’t do something. When he looked pleading at his brother, it seemed that he didn’t quite get the message because all Snappy did was glare up him. He was angry too.</p>
<p>Sunni was going to have to do this on his own.</p>
<p>“Sundrop. Amethyst,” Garnet started, taking a step towards them.</p>
<p>“WHAT?!!?!?!?!” Amethyst yelled.</p>
<p>“Go back to the temple,” she finished.</p>
<p>They couldn’t fight. And if Sunni tried to intervene he’d only be stopped by his brother.</p>
<p>“I DON’T WANNA!” with that she shoved Garnet.</p>
<p>Everyone in the room gasped.</p>
<p>“Don’t do this,” Garnet warned.</p>
<p>Amethyst however didn’t listen as she threw herself at Garnet as Purple Puma and aimed a punched. Garnet simply summoned her gauntlet and caught her fist.</p>
<p>There were too many people around.</p>
<p>“Guys stop!” Sunni tried to yell, but they could hear him over them fighting.</p>
<p>This was Amethyst’s thing, wasn’t it? This is where Amethyst could come and be herself, so why couldn’t they see it like that? Pearl, Garnet, and Snaps all saw this as some way to hurt people…that’s all they saw.</p>
<p>It clicked into Sunni’s head.</p>
<p>They didn’t understand what this really was for Amethyst.</p>
<p>The microphone rolled toward Sunni’s feet.</p>
<p>The fight was only going to escalate if no one stopped it.</p>
<p>He gripped the microphone in his hands tightly, “WAIT!”</p>
<p>All eyes turned to Sunni.</p>
<p>This was all resting on him.</p>
<p>“I want to tell you Purple Puma’s backstory,” he stated. “He was the wildest cat in the jungle. So wild, that the other cats couldn’t take it anymore.”</p>
<p>Were the other going really going to listen to him?</p>
<p>He turned meeting Snapdragon’s eyes, and something had changed. There was no anger behind it. And Sunni could feel it. There was a moment of understanding.</p>
<p>“So, she, I mean he, went to look for somewhere he fits in. Somewhere were other people felt misunderstood,” he continued.</p>
<p>All the anger within him melted away.</p>
<p>“That’s why we’re all here,” Sunni went on. “To be wild and free, and body slam each other, and wear cool costumes, and make up nicknames and uh... so can't we just have this? Can't we just wrestle?”</p>
<p>Garnet stepped towards him taking the microphone from his hands, “No.”</p>
<p>Everyone in the warehouse gasped.</p>
<p>“Because we are the Notorious Order of Wrestling Haters,” she finished motioning for Pearl to come up to.</p>
<p>“That's right! Um...” Pearl took the microphone. “We wanna stop all wrestling everywhere! Are you going to let us destroy all wrestling?”</p>
<p>After that, she gave a nervous laugh.</p>
<p>Sunni stared for a moment because this was actually happening.</p>
<p>“You’ve gotta save wrestling! Come on!” Lars yelled, standing on his seat with his sign from earlier, but with a not between is and jerk. “Tiger! Puma! Tiger! Puma!”</p>
<p>Sunni smiled, “We’ll stop you!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Snapdragon sighed as he stood outside the building, holding a jacket in his hands. When he saw his brother, he moved over handing the garment to Sundrop. He sighed, looking for the right words.</p>
<p>“Look I’m sorry!” they both said at the same time.</p>
<p>Sundrop chuckled and slipped the jacket on over his costume, “I’m sorry, but this really wasn’t my secret to tell.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon nodded, “I know…I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have gone through your stuff, but I was worried. Sundrop you know you aren’t like other people.”</p>
<p>“I know, I cough up blood whenever I overexert myself. I have to have contact with my brother at least once e—” Snapdragon shook his head stopping Sundrop.</p>
<p>“You’re allowed to be apart of all this,” Snapdragon corrected. “As a Crystal Gem, it's our job to protect the Earth and all of humanity. You’ve been doing that, with your actions and your words.”</p>
<p>Sundrop’s eyes sparkled.</p>
<p>“What you did in there, what you’ve been doing…” Snapdragon replied. “I’m worried that you won’t let me in. We’re supposed to be this team and I want to be with you every step of this experience. Just promise me next time you keep a secret think it through and I promise I’ll listen, and I won’t judge until you’ve finished your claim.”</p>
<p>He should have been expecting the hug, but he never really is. He doesn’t hate it. He places his hands on around his brother.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Sundrop whispered into his brother’s shoulder.</p>
<p>Protecting Sundrop has always been his prime objective.</p>
<p>And he was going to follow it for as long as he could.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for being patient.</p>
<p>I don't really know how I feel about this chapter, it's not my favorite but it's not my worse.  I feel like this is good, and I want to do more chapters like this...at least towards the end.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Episode 9: Pink Friends?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Snapdragon isn't jealous of the pink lion that his brother found in the woods.  Nope.  Not at all.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sunni frowned at Snaps, “Can I please come with you guys?”</p><p>Behind them, the Crystal Gems had gone off into a sandstorm, going after the gem in control of all the sand being manipulated.</p><p>“No,” Snapdragon stated. “It would be too dangerous on your lungs to go out in that sandstorm.”</p><p>He watched as his brother just walked off.</p><p>Deep down, Sunni knew he shouldn’t be complaining about this. The sand would probably mess his legs up really bad and the gems were looking out for him. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be upset about being thrown in the sidelines like this.</p><p>With a huff Sunni turned and sat down on the sand, leaning against one of the columns, but it soon disappeared making him lay on the ground instead.</p><p>Sunni didn’t quite like this sand as much as he did the sand back home. The sand there was cooler and nicer since there was an ocean just across from it. This sand was dry and not what Sundrop was used too.</p><p>The sun blared down on him.</p><p>“At least I remembered to bring sunscreen,” Sunni mumbled to himself, bring a hand to his forehead. “Otherwise, I’d probably be burnt to a crisp.”</p><p>A chuckled left him as he shifted his backpack to the side, allowing him to have easier access to it.</p><p>A shadow loomed over him, but Sundrop was too busy looking through his bag to look up, “That was fast.”</p><p>He didn’t think the fight would take a few minutes, but what did he know. Sunni barely ever got to see the fights.</p><p>When no one replied Sunni rolled his eyes, “Really you aren’t going to tell me how you got that…thing.”</p><p>But, instead of seeing the Crystal Gems, Sunni saw a rather large, pink lion standing right over him.</p>
<hr/><p>Snapdragon frowned, “Aren’t we supposed to bubble the gem once we poof them?”</p><p>Pearl nodded at him, “Yes, so Amethyst, please put that thing in a bubble before it starts to remake it’s castle again.”</p><p>However, Amethyst lazily held the Desert Glass, “My kill, my keep.”</p><p>In the corner of his eye, Snapdragon could see Pearl was about to start getting on at Amethyst again but seemed to have somehow gotten a handle on herself before she could say anything.</p><p>Snapdragon sighed, hoping both of them didn’t start arguing when they got back to Sundrop.</p><p>He smiled when he saw his brother, but it quickly melted when he saw just what Sundrop was with.</p><p>“Hey guys,” Sundrop said as he was literally hugging the mane of a pink lion. “I found this little guy…well I think he found me…isn’t he cute!?”</p><p>In a flash, Snapdragon grabbed his brother’s shirt and pulled him towards him, a pink bubble forming around them.</p><p>What was Sundrop thinking? A lion could easily ripe out his throat or any of his organs!</p><p>He tightly curled his arms around Sundrop as the pink lion gave a yawn and sat done, much like what a dog would do. When the creature didn’t appear to be a threat, Snapdragon let the bubble drop, but still wanted to keep Sundrop next to him. His brother, however, pulled himself out of Snapdragon’s grip and ran right back over to the lion.</p><p>“Look! He’s completely tame!” Sundrop calmly settled a hand on top of his head and started to stroke down its head. “It’s like the cotton candy of the jungle!”</p><p>The gems all had their weapons summoned in case the creature suddenly attacked.</p><p>Pearl sighed, “Sundrop, that’s impossible. Wild animals like this just don’t get tamed.”</p><p>However, all of them stopped to stare as the lion licked his cheek.</p><p>Amethyst was the first to speak, “I mean…don’t the seagulls listen to him…”</p><p>Pearl shook her head, “This is nothing like that. Those were just vermin looking for food, this however is a natural predator.”</p><p>Snapdragon frowned, “Can’t animals sense things, maybe he can tell that Sundrop is…Sundrop?”</p><p>A giggle came from next to them, “I love you, Lion.”</p><p>Sundrop was brushing his hand through its mane, now.</p><p>Everyone paused and stared.</p><p>Everyone knew it was bad once Sundrop named animals. From the random fly in the house to the seagulls outside to that one time he saw a wild bear! Sundrop loved all creatures in the world. He cared for them all. And somehow, it seemed they all cared back for him.</p><p>The thing was, Sundrop wasn’t allowed to have a pet. They didn’t know how an animal would affect his body. It was better for him to not have one. ESPECIALLY, not a lion.</p><p>“Come on, Sunni,” Garnet called out to him, as she, Amethyst, and Pearl left for the warp pad.</p><p>Snapdragon wrapped his hand around his brother’s arm and easily pulled him away from the lion. He didn’t want his brother to be heartbroken about the loss, but if Sundrop wasn’t going to think about his body than Snapdragon was going to have to.</p><p>Most people thought it was cute when they were younger, Sundrop would go chasing after the seagulls or crabs, while Snapdragon dragged him away from them rattling off some facts that he learned in a few of his books. Now, it felt like Snapdragon was so much older and Sundrop was still a five-year-old going after some animal that could make him sick.</p><p>“Bye Lion!” Sundrop called out to the pink creature, giving him a wave as they made their way to the warp pad.</p><p>And it seemed that as soon as the warp started Pearl and Amethyst started to argue.</p><p>“The Desert Glass needs to be contained,” Pearl reminded.</p><p>Amethyst rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah. I know what to do with it.”</p><p>Snapdragon looked over to Sundrop who was pouting next to him. He really hoped this topic wasn’t going to last too long. Snapdragon didn’t want his brother to be sad. He wanted him to be his normal happy self. Because when Sundrop got sad, it made the world a lot duller.</p><p>“You can’t keep him Sundrop,” he replied as they warped. “That’s a wild animal that needed to stay in the wild.”</p><p>Sundrop shook his head, “No he was my friend!”</p><p>Snapdragon frowned, “You said that about the fly that got stuck in the window.”</p><p>“And Buggy is missed!” Sundrop exclaimed, tears forming in his eyes.</p><p>“Sunni,” Garnet turned to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “A real friend will follow after you.”</p><p>And that Lion was perfectly happy back in the desert. Besides, there was no chance that it could follow them. A lion couldn’t warp and it didn’t know where they lived. And knowing his brother, Sundrop would hopefully move on to the next animal that came his way.</p><p>An hour later, Snapdragon found himself on a cushionless couch watching Amethyst and Sundrop sleep. The Desert Glass was still unbubbled and sat on the top of their fort. Part of him wanted him to bubble the gem, but…he didn’t…really…know how to…do that…Making a big bubble around himself was easy, especially if there was a life-threatening situation. But making tiny ones didn’t come so naturally to him.</p><p>He could see the faint glowing on his cheeks as he thought about it.</p><p>So, as long as he sat here and made sure nothing happened to the desert glass everything would be okay.</p><p>The scratching at the door didn’t let him break his eye contact.</p><p>Nope, Snapdragon was going to sit and watch the Desert Glass until Amethyst finally woke up and bubbled it like she was supposed to in the first place.</p><p>“Mhm,” he heard his brother mumble. “What’s that sound?”</p><p>Amethyst just slapped her hand over his mouth, “All I hear is your mouth.”</p><p>Sundrop frowned moving out of the fort, “I thought gems don’t need to sleep?”</p><p>“We don’t,” Snapdragon shrugged.</p><p>“But it feels nice,” Amethyst finished him, continuing with her nap.</p><p>When neither Snapdragon nor Amethyst got up to check Sundrop stood from his spot and walked over to where the noise had come from.</p><p>Following that there was a gasp of excitement.</p><p>“YOU’RE BACK!”</p><p>That wasn’t the typical reaction Sundrop had to the people at the door. Normally, it was a cheerful hello or goofy how is it going.</p><p>He stood from his spot made his way over to the front door and had to just stare for a second. A complete and utter blank stare at the lion that Snapdragon was very sure of got left at the desert…miles and miles away from Beach City! How was this possible?</p><p>The lion appeared to be trying to get past Sundrop and into the house, which Snapdragon wasn’t going to let happen.</p><p>“Nope. Go back where you came from,” he said, shutting the door and making it sure the creature couldn’t get passed him.</p><p>“You can’t just tell him that!” Sundrop exclaimed. “He’s come all this way! Besides who could pass up the opportunity to befriend a PINK LION!”</p><p>Snapdragon gave him an indifferent look, “Do you know how many people have probably said that sentence?”</p><p>“Says the pink boy with a gemstone in his navel,” Sundrop sassed. “Come on! You guys are twins! My favorite brother! And my favorite Lion! Both pink!”</p><p>He couldn’t find the words for this. He really couldn’t. Living the life they did, something like this was bound to happen, right? In such a magically world, of course, Sundrop would eventually find some odd creature and dub it as his friend.</p><p>Why couldn’t it have been a hamster or goldfish? Why did it have to be a freaking LION?</p><p>“Come on you, two. There are tons of things we can do together!” he skipped happily out the door.</p><p>Though, Snapdragon had a lot of questions when he saw his brother standing on the top of a cliff looking at the two of them at the bottom.</p><p>“What are you doing?” Snapdragon asked slowly.</p><p>“It’s a trust fall. I fall off the cliff and you two have to catch me! Whoever is the first wins! It’s fun!” Sundrop replied, casually, lifting one foot and hovering it over the edge.</p><p>“Sundrop, you get off that cliff right now, or I will go tell Pearl about this thing,” Snapdragon replied.</p><p>“Boo!” Sundrop said but walked off anyway.</p><p>He made his way over and rest his head on the lion’s mane, the lion, however, started to rub his head against Sundrop…like he was some sort of giant cat.</p><p>Sundrop smiled, “We can always go into town.”</p><p>He relented, seeing as this was a much better idea than his brother actually jumping off a cliff for some crazy trust fall, “Fine, but if he eats anyone, you are taking the blame.”</p><p>“Lion would never!” Sundrop frowned, gently grabbing onto his mane. “Can I braid your mane?”</p><p>Snapdragon knew this was going to end in disaster. He could feel it in his gem.</p><p>The feeling deepened in his gem as he walked closer and closer until the two were finally in Beach City.</p><p>However, Snapdragon did have to suppress the urge to laugh when the first place Sundrop had taken them was the fry shop.</p><p>“Hey, Peedee! Guess what?” Sundrop greeted as he stood in front of the cash register.</p><p>“What do you—” Peedee looked up from his work. “AH!”</p><p>He looked at the lion with both eyes wide and blinked a couple of times probably to see if this was actually real.</p><p>“Isn’t he cool?” Sundrop laughed. “I named him Lion.”</p><p>Peedee broke his eye contact to look at Sundrop, “Sunni, are you serious?”</p><p>Snapdragon smiled, at least his brother had another good influence in his life. Hopefully, as time went on Sundrop would learn to take matters like this more cautiously.</p><p>“That would be like naming a human HUMAN!” Peedee exclaimed, leaning over slightly. “You have to give him a better name than that.”</p><p>Snapdragon’s smile vanished.</p><p>Sundrop turned around to look at the lion as well, “Well, what should I name him?”</p><p>Peedee studied him for a second, looking over the lion. However, it was when he glanced over at Snapdragon did he finally come up with an answer, “Snapdragon Jr.”</p><p>“WHAT?!”</p><p>There was no way he was sharing a name with this thing.</p><p>“You’re both pink,” Peedee replied with a shrug.</p><p>“Oh, that is CUTE!” Sundrop beamed. “So, Snapdragon Jr?”</p><p>The creature showed no interest in this and simply settled his head on top of Sundrop’s.</p><p>“So, how did you tame him? I thought you couldn’t domesticate animals like lions,” Peedee asked.</p><p>“He’s just sort of been like this,” Sundrop replied.</p><p>Peedee nodded, “Well, he probably had an owner before if he’s this tame. Did you find any sign of another person there?”</p><p>As they continued to talk about whatever theories they had, the lion started to walk off.</p><p>“Um, I’m just going to go,” Snapdragon called out</p><p>Snapdragon didn’t trust this one bit as they went on to the house where the lion was going. He didn’t know if Sundrop was behind him or not. All he did know was that he needs to find that lion before it did whatever it was going to do.</p><p>He saw the lion bust through the front door.</p><p>“No, get out right now!” he yelled running up the stairs and back into the house.</p><p>The lion didn’t listen and was glaring in Amethyst’s direction, who was somehow still asleep.</p><p>Then, the lion gave a roar that rocked back the fort and Amethyst onto the couch. She didn’t do anything and just mumbled something out about being quiet. The Desert Glass landed next to the twin’s bedroom. That was what he was staring at. What he really wanted.</p><p>“Is that what you want?” Snapdragon asked. “All you want? If you have that you’ll leave Sundrop alone?!”</p><p>He ran up and grabbed the pillow before the lion could.</p><p>“Fine! Just take this thing and leave!” he ran out and threw gem out onto the sand. <strong>“JUST GO AND LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!”</strong></p><p>A sudden rubble came from the ground as the Desert Glass hit the ground.</p><p>“Snaps?” a voice called up to him.</p><p>And suddenly his eyes landed on Sundrop who was at the bottom of the temple, the Desert Glass was just a few feet away from him. His mind suddenly went blank and he jumped off the temple trying to move towards his brother, but the gem was trying to reconstruct the desert temple.</p><p>The storm picked up and Snapdragon couldn’t see his brother anymore.</p><p>“Snapdragon!” he heard Pearl from behind him. “The Desert Glass is reconstructing its castle. Why didn’t you bubble it?!”</p><p>“Welcome to shrug city, P,” he heard Amethyst.</p><p>This is bad!</p><p>He ran into the storm calling out his brother’s name. Looking around, the sandstorm had taken over the beach, Snapdragon knew his brother wouldn’t be able to last long in it. With his lungs as weak as they were, Snapdragon knew Sundrop would need to get out of there fast.</p><p>Worry filled him.</p><p>In the storm, he found himself lost from the others. The columns kept raising and disintegrating making it impossible to navigate one’s self through the beach. His brother could be anywhere.</p><p>“SUNDROP!” he yelled. “SUN—”</p><p>A roar made him turn to the left and he felt himself sigh, “Of course you’re still here…”</p><p>The lion made his way over to Snapdragon and simply stared at him.</p><p>The wind gusted causing Snapdragon to stumble. He wasn’t going to be able to make it out of here with Sundrop on his own. If he was really going to do this, Snapdragon was going to need help. The Crystal Gems were nowhere to be seen. It was just him and the lion.</p><p>“Look…” Snapdragon looked up at the Lion. “Sundrop’s in here and he won’t be able to last long with all this sand…can you please help me find him? Not for me, for him.”</p><p>For a second, Snapdragon didn’t know what he was even doing. Talking to some animal like it’d be able to understand him. However, the lion leaned down allowing Snapdragon to get down on his back. Carefully, Snapdragon got onto his back grabbing onto his mane.</p><p>Then just like that, he took off. Snapdragon tightened his hold on the mane, leaning farther towards the lion below him. He strained his eyes, looking for his brother to see if he was anywhere around this mess.</p><p>“Sundrop was close to the gem, so he must be close to the center,” Snapdragon stated.</p><p>Lion growled in agreement as they moved forward.</p><p>He really had to look. It was challenging trying to find his brother through all of this. Blinking through the sand, Snapdragon saw a blur of pink and blue in front of them appearing to be scaling the wall, where the Desert Glass was stood.</p><p>However, the gem must know that Sundrop was there, so they better get to him soon before it tried to attack him.</p><p>“There!” he pointed over to Sundrop, which Lion was quick to follow.</p><p>Lion jumped onto a growing column and leap just as the wall Sundrop was climbing started to collapse and he started to go down.</p><p>His scream was muffled through the sandstorm, but Snapdragon could hear it.</p><p>Even if they were a million miles apart, he would be. It was so clear to Snapdragon.</p><p>It was like slow motion. Sundrop’s body was falling and Lion was moving closer and closer to him. Just one inch off and they’d miss him completely and Sundrop would fall into those spikes below them.</p><p>Snapdragon reached out his hands and grabbed him pulling his twin towards him and safely onto Lion.</p><p>Sundrop appeared to be only slightly dirty. Everything else about him seemed to be okay. However, there was something wrong with his eye. The iris seemed to be redder than it normally was, but Snapdragon shook that off as the sand doing something to him.</p><p>“They’re scared,” Sundrop said. “They think we’re going to hurt them. That’s why the defenses are up.”</p><p>“What?” Snapdragon asked, honestly confused at his brother’s statement. “How do you—”</p><p>Lion landed, but spikes formed creating between them and the Desert Sand, while it was trying to put up more defenses.</p><p>That was a pretty good, educated guess on his brother's part. It was protecting itself from them, but the gem couldn’t be left out like this on the beach. They would be able to put it somewhere safe and where it wouldn’t hurt anyone else.</p><p>With Sundrop settled behind him Snapdragon turned back around.</p><p>“Alright Lion,” Snapdragon said.</p><p>He let out a magical roar, that turned the spikes back into sand.</p><p>They started getting closer, but columns formed between them, trying to stop them from getting any closer. But Lion just let out another roar, clearing a path for them. He ran getting closer and closer to the wall. The only thing that was between them was a wall.</p><p>“Now!” Snapdragon yelled, and Lion jumped roaring at the wall, disintegrating a hole where they could see the gem. “Sunni!”</p><p>“Yeah!” he heard and felt the arms on his back loosen until they weren't there anymore.</p><p>They fell through the hole.</p>
<hr/><p>The landing had been rough, both Snappy and Sunni fell off of S.J. and fell to the ground hard. Sunni made sure to keep the pillow in his hands as far from the ground as he could, holding it up. He started to chuckle nervously as he saw the other Crystal Gems.</p><p>All the sand around them fell back down to the beach.</p><p>Slowly, he moved the gem pillow to his chest, “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hurt you. We’ll send you somewhere safe, where you won’t be hurt anymore. Okay?”</p><p>The pain he felt in his chest eased some, but he knew it was going to be hard for whatever it was he was feeling. He reassured them as he saw Pearl make her way over and bubble the Desert Glass, sending it to the temple.</p><p>She gave Amethyst a pointed look, “We should have done that in the first place.”</p><p>Amethyst rolled her eyes, “Well, in my defense I forgot.”</p><p>Sunni chuckled before walking over to both Snappy and Lion, “You two are finally getting along.”</p><p>Snapdragon shrugged, while S.J. snorted.</p><p>S.J. made his way over to Sunni, settling his chin down on top of his.</p><p>Snapdragon looked down, “I’m sorry about earlier. You were trying to protect us from the Desert Glass.”</p><p>S.J. made his way over to Snapdragon and stared at him blankly for a second, before giving a small huff and turning back towards Sunni.</p><p>He smiled. They were finally getting along…but the gems would never let him keep him.</p><p>“I guess this is goodbye for real,” Sunni smiled. “We had some good times, but you probably have other magical stuff to do with other magical boys and their ordinary twin brothers.”</p><p>He kissed S.J. on the head.</p><p>He turned around planning on going back to the house when a voice made him turn back.</p><p>“No Sundrop, I want to stay with you,” Snapdragon said while manipulating S.J.’s mouth, making him look like he’s the one saying it.</p><p>Sunni jumped up and down before launching himself at them</p><p>“Oh my goodness, I get to spend every day with my two favorite Snapdragons!” Sunni yelled, hugging both of them.</p><p>“We aren’t calling him that!” Snapdragon said, now trying to pull away from the hug, but Sunni wasn’t going to let him.</p><p>He heard the other’s talking in the back but know if they wanted to get rid of S.J. they were going to have to ripe him from Sunni’s cold dead hands.</p><p>“Are we going to let them keep that?” Pearl asked.</p><p>“We kept Amethyst,” Garnet replied, which Pearl started to laugh.</p><p>“Kept Amethyst,” she laughed.</p><p>Sunni smiled, into S.J.’s mane once Snapdragon had pulled himself out of the hug.</p><p>“I love you,” he whispered.</p><p>His life was turning around now, wasn’t it?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Only Sunni's POV will have Lion reference as S.J. or Snapdragon Junoir.  I just thought this was a cute idea because they're both pink.  I really wanted to focus more on Snaps with this one.  And for those of you who want to know, Sunni is going to eventually end up putting braids in Lion's mane.</p><p>Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10: Fun and Games</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After a mission, Sunni wants to take the Gems out for some fun times at the arcade.  Things don't go to plan.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'M BACK FROM THE DEAD!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Snapdragon was attempting to stay as quiet as he could, even after Garnet had shushed them.  This was a task he normally had no problem with, however, today was nearly impossible for him.</p>
<p>You see, Sundrop had gotten a sudden wave of creative inspiration and had decided that he was going to make Snapdragon a bracelet earlier this morning.  It was a piece of ribbon with a bunch of “beads and charms” attached to it.  It wasn’t the prettiest thing ever as his brother used items such as bottle tops, keys, bolts, really anything they had around the house.  When Snapdragon asked him about how different it was, Sundrop told him the bracelet was modern art. </p>
<p>The reason that he was still wearing it was that he had wanted to cheer his brother up after he was told he wasn’t allowed to be on this mission.  Of course, Sundrop was sad after being told this since he had able to go on the last few missions, however, they didn’t have that much dangerous conflict within them and if they did it was just a random occurrence.  But Garnet had stated that this was going to be too intense for Sundrop, so he had to stay home and make sure Lion doesn’t rip anything up.  Snapdragon had wanted to take the bracelet off just before the mission, but when he saw his brother pouting, he couldn’t do that to him.  Even now, as they walked on to their target, he found that he still couldn’t take it off.  Every time the thought came to him, he just envisioned his brother’s saddened expression.</p>
<p>The jangled must have gotten to Pearl’s limit because she turned with a stern look, “This is a stealth mission, Snapdragon.  That bracelet is making too much noise, take it off!”</p>
<p>Snapdragon placed a hand around the bracelet, keeping it from jingling around.</p>
<p>Pearl seemed to relax after the noise stopped.  It didn’t long though when the noise started up again.  This time it came from behind him.</p>
<p>He turned and saw that Amethyst had used her powers to make a bracelet similar to one that Snapdragon had and was shaking it around.</p>
<p>“Amethyst!” he whisper-shouted at her.</p>
<p>She, however, continued making the noise and grinned as Pearl seemed to get even more ticked.</p>
<p>“Snapdragon!” she said, annoyed.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t me!” he insisted, trying to show her that his wrist was still covered.  “Amethyst stop it, you’re making me look bad!”</p>
<p>Luckily for him, Garnet had stopped, making the three look over at her.  Then she stepped off of the cliff falling down into the darkness.  It wasn’t unusual for Garnet to do something odd like that in the missions.  She always knew what she was doing and that’s why Snapdragon looked up to her.</p>
<p>“So are we jumping down too or are—” Snapdragon was interrupted by spikes being thrown down in the general area that Garnet had jumped down.</p>
<p>In the ceiling, there was a hole that contained a gem monster.</p>
<p>“Come one, dude,” Amethyst said, lifting the male gem up and placing him over her shoulder, and jumping down.</p>
<p>When they made it to the bottom, Snapdragon had to stare in awe as Garnet fought the monster.</p>
<p>She slipped away from the outer arms, somersaulting away from the attacks before she parried every attack from the inner arms.  Once she had had the gem right where she wanted, she punched it in the mouth.  The monster exploded into a cloud of blue smoke.</p>
<p>“Wow…” Snapdragon mumbled to himself.</p>
<p>Right now, Snapdragon could only hope to be just like Garnet one day.</p>
<p>Pearl frowned looking down and pointed at the spikes, “The little ones didn’t explode.”</p>
<p>At the mention of them, the spikes started to burrow their way into the ground.</p>
<p>Snapdragon stuck his hand out, trying to will a bubble out to try to catch one, but it only popped.  This allowed the spikes to continue burrowing into the ground.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I got this,” Amethyst said, jumping into one of the holes.</p>
<p>Whenever she didn’t come out, Snapdragon could only presume that she was stuck.</p>
<p> “Let them go,” Garnet sent the bubbled gem away. “They’re just parasites.  If they want to be a problem, they’ll have to answer to me.”</p>
<p>Snapdragon still found himself staring in awe of all of this, “So cool.”</p>
<p>Garnet stepped over to where Amethyst was stuck in the ground and pulled her out.</p>
<p>“I swallowed a rock!”</p>
<p>Of course, Sundrop was on the edge of his seat the whole time while Snapdragon told him what had gone down.  He happily skipped down the beach with his backpack on his back.  He seemed to have forgotten about his earlier sadness from this morning.  He had insisted that the four come with him, even though they didn’t know what they were doing.</p>
<p>“That sounds awesome!” Sundrop skipped as they went into town.  “You guys deserve a reward!”</p>
<p>“Sounds like you have something in mind,” Pearl said to him.</p>
<p>Sundrop giggled and spun around in a circle, “Yep!  I’ve had all morning to plan.  I’m taking you guys to the best place in Beach City!  Funland Arcade!”</p>
<p>Almost as soon as Sundrop had said that Snapdragon found himself trying to find an excuse to not come, but most of them would definitely hurt his brother’s feelings if he said them.</p>
<p>“I don’t think I should show my face around Mr. Smiley,” Snapdragon blushed, thinking back to that time on the teacups.  Sure, it had been a moment of protective instinct, but sometimes he just couldn’t control himself and sometimes bad things resulted.</p>
<p>Looking around, Snapdragon could tell that the others didn’t really want to do it too, but one look into that one big marron eye made so hard to say no.  The same reason that’s why Snapdragon was still wearing the monstrosity on his wrist.</p>
<p>“Do we have anything else to do?” Pearl asked Garnet, trying to find an excuse for not going in.</p>
<p>And it wasn’t that they didn’t want to do something with Sundrop.  The Gems just didn’t sometimes see the reason for doing these kinds of human activities.</p>
<p>“We don’t,” Garnet replied.</p>
<p>Amethyst crossed her arms, “Um, don’t you need to have money for that place?”</p>
<p>A slight hope filled Snapdragon’s chest as Amethyst came to a good point.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry!  This one’s on…,” Sundrop started to rummage through his backpack before pulling out the multiple bags of money that he’s collected.  “Me!”</p>
<p>Snapdragon knew his brother didn’t just have money.  If he did have any, he would just spend it on candy.</p>
<p>“Where did you even get all this?” Snapdragon questioned.</p>
<p>“I have my ways, dear brother,” Sundrop stated before turning and walking inside the building.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Sunni found himself skipping through the arcade, happily looking for the perfect games for the Gems to play.  His day so far had been filled with him collecting enough money to play as long as they wanted to at the Arcade.  He wasn’t sure games the Gems would want to play as they had never been here before, but Sunni knew that once he say the right games he’d know.</p>
<p>Behind him, he heard Pearl say, “Humans find such fascinating ways to waste their time.”</p>
<p>He didn’t know if she was saying that in fascination or annoyance.  He was going to say the first one as he scouted the area before his eyes landed on a game.</p>
<p>“Oh, Pearl,” Sunni grabbed her hand and lead her to it.  “You’ll love this game.”</p>
<p>“If you say so,” she shrugged, but she gave a confused look at the title, “…Road Killer?”</p>
<p>Sunni nodded, “Yep, you just pick the car you like and go for it!”</p>
<p>“W-well, which button is my turn signal?” she asked, giving him a confused look.</p>
<p>“None of them!” he said excitedly, it was all the fun of driving without all the complicated stuff.  “Have fun!”</p>
<p>He soon found Amethyst by the Skee Ball and decided to show her how the game worked.</p>
<p>“This is Skee Ball.  You roll the ball into the hole, and then you can even win tickets for prizes,” he explained and pointed towards the prize booth.</p>
<p>There Onion had given a pile of tickets over to Mr. Smiley, who in return gave him a small moped.</p>
<p>“Onion is the ticket master!” Sunni stated in awe.</p>
<p>“Cool,” Amethyst said, however, Sunni missed the mischievous look that came across her face.</p>
<p>“Good luck!” Sunni called out to her and now went off to find a game for Garnet.</p>
<p>Looking around he eventually found one, “Oh, Garnet, this game is perfect for you! You seem like a Joe Rock kinda gal. His special move is... Forward, forward, back, tap towards half circle, medium kick- Oh wait! Maybe that's an aerial move. Just punch and you'll be fine.”</p>
<p>The game in front of them spoke, “Come on, chump!”</p>
<p>And that was all Garnet need before she punched …literally, “I did it.”</p>
<p>“Wow!” Sunni blinked.</p>
<p>Snapdragon appeared, probably summoned because of the noise, “Oh no, I sense impending doom.”</p>
<p>Sunni ignored him, as he placed his hand on his chin, trying to think of another game for Garnet to play.</p>
<p>“Oh, I know,” he led Garnet over to another game.  “This is Punch Bubby.  You can punch this too!”</p>
<p>“Come on, give me your best shot!” the game said.</p>
<p>Garnet replied, by swatting the game, breaking the body off, and sending it flying away from them.</p>
<p>“Tell my wife I’m sorry!”</p>
<p>“I win again,” Garnet stated.</p>
<p>Sunni blinked up at her, “You’re really strong!”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” she replied.</p>
<p>Snappy grabbed Sunni by the shoulders, “Why don’t we find Garnet another game?  One that doesn’t have…punching.”</p>
<p>Sunni thought, while his eyes landed on another game, “What about Meat Beat Mania?  I don’t think there’s any violence in it.  You just shake the meat to the beat.”</p>
<p>He handed her the two controls.</p>
<p>She began to play.  The game immediately started to encourage her to continue.  Sunni smiled as Garnet looked like she was doing pretty good.  She probably didn’t need any more help, so he decided to go check how the others were doing with their games.</p>
<p>Snapdragon was quick to follow after him, “We are going to get into trouble, so much trouble and you know it!”</p>
<p>Sunni rolled his eyes at his brother, “You worry way too much, as long as we don’t put too much attention on ourselves, we’ll be fine.”</p>
<p>“I want you to rethink what you just said,” Snapdragon sighed.</p>
<p>“You’re horrible!”</p>
<p>“Stop saying that!” he heard Pearl yell.</p>
<p>He skipped over to her, “Having fun?”</p>
<p>“Why am I doing so badly?” she asked.  “I haven’t crashed into anything!”</p>
<p>Sunni frowned, “You’re supposed to crash into everything.”</p>
<p>“What?!  That’s horrible!” she said.</p>
<p>“You’re horrible!”  the game replied.</p>
<p>Snappy gave him a look, “Why did you think this was a good game for Pearl?”</p>
<p>Sunni would have answered, but he noticed Amethyst.  She was straddling the outer ring of the Skee Ball game and throwing the balls into the center, getting as many tickets as she could.</p>
<p>“I’ve never seen Skee Ball played like that!” Sunni admired the giant amount of tickets that Amethyst had earned.</p>
<p>“Imma win an airplane!” she yelled at them.</p>
<p>Snappy had moved over to her and stopped her from the game, “Amethyst, you can’t do that!  It’s cheating!”</p>
<p>“Hey, do you guys know what happen to Teen of Rage?” Mr. Smiley walked over to them.</p>
<p>Before whom he could realize just who it was, Snappy grabbed both Amethyst and Sunni’s hand before running away.  Sunni wanted to protest, but anything said was going on deaf ears.</p>
<p>“Pearl we’re leaving!” Snappy said to her.</p>
<p>Pearl stopped playing the game, “Ugh, good.”</p>
<p>They went by Garnet who was still playing the game.</p>
<p>“Garnet, we’re leaving!” Sunni called out to her, but she didn’t listen.  “Garnet?”</p>
<p>“What happened to Punch Buddy?  Who did this to you?!”  Mr. Smiley yelled.</p>
<p>“AH!  See you at home!” Snappy yelled before leaving and heading back to the temple.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Snapdragon flipped through one of his books, Sundrop had left him a bowl of sugary cereal.  He had taken a few spoonfuls but didn’t really feel like eating.  Not at the moment anyway.  He glanced at Sundrop, who seemed to have the goal of shoving as much of his breakfast into his mouth as fast as he could.</p>
<p>It hadn’t really been an eventful morning.  After Sundrop got up, Snapdragon had spent the morning reading.  And most of the time when reading he got too engrossed, he didn’t really pay attention to his surroundings.  Of course, Sundrop never let anything happen to him when he got like that.  Sundrop, however, seemed to have done a lot more with the morning.  After he had gotten dressed, he had managed to brush Lion’s mane, cleaned up a patch of glitter left from yesterday morning, and made them breakfast.</p>
<p>“I hope today’s mission is fighting…a giant foot!” Sundrop said, happily through bites.</p>
<p>Pearl twirled her spear around, “If we were going to fight a “giant foot”, Garnet would let us know.”</p>
<p>Amethyst nodded from her spot on the couch, “Yep, she’s the boss.”</p>
<p>“Well, we're all a team. Garnet just has heightened perception that guides us towards our mission objective,” Pearl explained to Sundrop.</p>
<p>“Yeah, Garnet’s the boss,” Amethyst repeated.</p>
<p>Snapdragon looked around, noting that she wasn’t here at all.  Actually, when did he last see Garnet?  He hasn’t seen her since yesterday.</p>
<p>“Where is she?” he asked, placing his bookmark in his book.</p>
<p>“Fighting the foot?” Sundrop asked.</p>
<p>Pearl seemed like she couldn’t with the conversation, “She’s not “fighting the foot”.  You know that Garnet goes off on missions without us all the time.  She’s probably doing something very important.”</p>
<p>That was probably it.  Garnet did go off on missions on her own a lot.</p>
<p>“Oh wait, Sunni!  I just remember.  Garnet had a special mission for you,” Amethyst said.</p>
<p>“Really?!” Sundrop asked, happily.</p>
<p>“Yeah, she says you have to dunk your whole face in that bowl of cereal,” she replied.</p>
<p>“Okay!” and before Snapdragon or Pearl could stop him, Sundrop had completely slammed his face into his breakfast.</p>
<p>“Good job, Sunshine.  You stopped the foot,” Amethyst continued on.</p>
<p>Snapdragon rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the towels, using it to wipe the milk and pieces of cereal that were on his brother’s face.</p>
<p>“There is no foot!” Pearl yelled.</p>
<p>Sundrop had a determined look, “Not anymore.”</p>
<p>Pearl only sighed.</p>
<p>Once Sundrop had finished, he jumped out of his seat and stretched before getting ready to go.</p>
<p>“Time to get more quarters,” Sundrop stated, holding a familiar wallet in his hands.</p>
<p>Snapdragon frowned feeling his breast pocket, “Wait, did you steal my money?”</p>
<p>Sundrop just went on pulling out another random bill, “This should be enough.”</p>
<p>He went off outside before his brother could stop him, but Snapdragon was quick to go after him.</p>
<p>“Wait, you don’t have a good concept of money!” he chased after his brother, trying to get the money back from his brother, “How much of my money did you steal?”</p>
<p>“Um…” Sundrop mumbled before suddenly frowning.  “It wasn’t like I only used your money yesterday.  I took all the quarters in my piggy bank and I search the beach with my metal detector!”</p>
<p>Snapdragon frowned as he listened to his brother continued to dodge the question.</p>
<p>“I looked through the cushions too,” Sundrop continued.  “There was a lot of money in there.  I also looked through the washing machine and—”</p>
<p>“Sundrop,” Snapdragon sighed.</p>
<p>“Yes?” he asked, stopping his rant.</p>
<p>“Give me back my wallet,” he stated.</p>
<p>“Okay,” he handed it back over to his brother, who pocketed the wallet.</p>
<p>Sundrop frowned, turning around frowning at the sight of something a little bit away from them.  He made his way closer.</p>
<p>“That’s an…odd starfish,” he made his way over and kneeled down next to it.  “It shouldn’t be this far from the water.  We better get it to—AH!”</p>
<p>Suddenly, the starfish turned into one of those parasites from their last mission and launched itself at Sundrop.  He quickly fell back, getting away from it before it could hit him in the face.</p>
<p>More followed after the first trying to attack the two boys.</p>
<p>Sundrop grabbed his tessen off of his waist and held it out in front of him.</p>
<p>“What are these?” he asked, making his way to Snapdragon, who dodged another one of them.</p>
<p>“They were part of a gem monster we fought yesterday,” Snapdragon replied.</p>
<p>“Sundrop!  Snapdragon!” Pearl yelled out to them.</p>
<p>“It’s the little guys,” Amethyst replied, as both gems dodged an attack from the parasites.</p>
<p>There were too many and they were too fast for them.  How were they going to fight them?  He tried his hardest to think of how, but his mind became overflood with the sight of Sundrop trying to fend off the creatures.  Quickly, he snatched his brother’s hand and pulled him towards the boardwalk.</p>
<p>“They’re everywhere!” Pearl said.  “Why didn’t we see this coming?!”</p>
<p>“We need Garnet!” Sundrop replied to her.</p>
<p>He was right.  Garnet would be able to fight off these things.</p>
<p>“We don’t know where she is!” Pearl reminded.</p>
<p>Think…think…where could Garnet be?  They last saw her at the…</p>
<p>“The arcade!”  Snapdragon yelled.  “Come on.”</p>
<p>Even when Pearl asked them what they were doing, Snapdragon kept moving forward.  He made sure that Sundrop was in front of him, using his own body to shield him.</p>
<p>Once they were safe inside, both brothers started to look around.  They had to find her before those little parasites could harm the town.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Garnet!” Sunni called.</p>
<p>When he finally saw her, he had to frown.  She was still playing Meat Beat Mania.  He tilted his head and took a few steps toward her, “Garnet!  We need to go, there are these things out—”</p>
<p>She wasn’t listening to him.  Instead, she was just playing the game.  With a really impressive high score.</p>
<p>“Wow!  I’ve never seen anyone get that high!” he stepped forward and quickly shook those thoughts away.  “But we really need to go fight those things.”</p>
<p>However, she was unresponsive to him.</p>
<p>“What are you guys doing?” Snappy made his way over.  “We’ve got to go!”</p>
<p>Sunni tried to pull on her, but she was a lot stronger than him and didn’t budge.</p>
<p>“She won’t move,” Sunni said.  “The rhythm has her!”</p>
<p>This was bad!  What were they going to do if they didn’t have Garnet?  She made sure the monsters didn’t come.  She fought them away.  He tried to pull harder, but she wasn’t moving.</p>
<p>“Come on,” Sunni said.  “You got to get out and help the others.  This is serious!  Pearl and Amethyst need you!”</p>
<p>She didn’t move.  What were they going to do?</p>
<p>Maybe if he got closer to her face?</p>
<p>“Come on, Garnet!” he said as he started to scale her.  “We…we nee...WHY ARE YOU SO HARD TO CLIMB?!”</p>
<p>He really was out of breath when he got to her shoulders.  He was so happy that he remembered his inhaler.</p>
<p>“Garnet?  Hey Garnet?!” he tried to grab her face, but accidentally knock off her visor.</p>
<p>In all of his life, Sunni had never seen Garnet without the visor, and know he knew why it seemed that she never took it off around them.  Two eyes looked blankly ahead, while a third eye followed after the game.  He found himself staring.  While Snapdragon did the same for a moment too, he quickly turned around and tried to find a solution.</p>
<p>“Maybe if we unplug the machine?” Snapdragon moved forward and unplugged the game.</p>
<p>It shut off immediately.</p>
<p>However, even that didn’t break her trance as she threw the controls in the air and used both of her gems to power up the machine.  Sunni squeak.  He didn’t realize that Garnet could do that.</p>
<p>The game soon turned back on and Garnet grabbed the controllers, playing where she had left off.</p>
<p>“The only way to defeat the beat is with meat!”  Sunni yelled.</p>
<p>Snapdragon blinked, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p>
<p>“We have to beat the game,” Sunni stated</p>
<p>His brother took one look at the screen and turned back to Sunni, “We aren’t beating Garnet in the game.”</p>
<p>Sunni frowned, “Why not?”</p>
<p>“We physically can’t.  She’s been playing it all night!  We’ll never beat her score!” Snapdragon pointed at the completely perfect score.</p>
<p>Sunni had to nod, “Then we must destroy the game!”</p>
<p>He hopped down and aimed his tessen at the screen, ready to stab the screen.</p>
<p>“What?  We can’t break public property!” Snapdragon yelled.</p>
<p>“One machine or the city?!” Sunni pointed out.</p>
<p>He didn’t want to do that either, but if breaking the game was all it took get Garnet to help then that’s what they need to do.</p>
<p>“Just let me do it,” he took the weapon from him.  “You can get electrocuted or something.”</p>
<p>However, Sunni watched as his brother had an issue with trying to get the weapon opened.</p>
<p>“Is something wrong?” he asked.  “I mean…is it stuck or something?”</p>
<p>“I um…” Snappy suddenly pushed it into Sunni’s hands.  “You open it.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” he replied.</p>
<p>Taking the weapon and simply pulling it apart.</p>
<p>Snaps blinked, seeming to be a little lost in thought.</p>
<p>“Snappy?” Sunni pulled on his arm, trying to break him out of whatever trance he was in.</p>
<p>“We need Garnet,” he mumbled before he seemed to know exactly what to do.</p>
<p>Before Sunni could offer him the weapon again, Snaps had grabbed the console and ripped it off with extreme ease.  Then, he stabbed it through the screen.</p>
<p>Sunni just stared.</p>
<p>He couldn’t find any other words to describe what he saw.  It was so easy for his brother to just…do that!</p>
<p>“Sunni!”  Garnet blinked as she became aware of her surroundings.  “Snapdragon!”</p>
<p>“Garnet!” Sunni said happily.  “We need to go and fight the sharp starfish.”</p>
<p>She nodded summoning her visor and flipping out of the room.</p>
<p>“It was YOU TWO!” he heard Mr. Smiley yell.</p>
<p>“RUN AGAIN!” Snapdragon yelled grabbed his brother’s hand and running off and away from Mr. Smiley.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My children are back!</p>
<p>Guys, this chaper was nearly ready before school started, and all I needed to do proof read, but school has been tough.  Besides, it probably didn't help that this wasn't an episode I wasn't looking forward to write.  Not that I don't like it, there are just some episodes that I know I'm doing straight in and others I have no idea.  </p>
<p>Thanks for being patient!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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